2016 Salary Cap roster and hypothetical signings

[MarshallMoss]

Rather than being in the dark, I decided to look into our 2016 cap and see what the realistic possibility of signing our free agents are based on hypotheticals. Would love for others to state their hypotheticals. Below does not include everything ( for example not sure if the Broncos have any carry over cap space from last year to bring over this year...and there are a lot of other loopholes I'm not aware of). But this should serve as a good base.

Ok the 2016 NFL team salary cap is expected to be raised to $153 million.

Our current 2016 salary cap as it stands now is $142 million

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/denver-broncos/

We can safely dump Peyton Manning salary and bring our total to $123 million

Our goal is to keep our defense mainly in tack to make another run while not jeopardizing our long term future with heavy backloaded contracts that are not cap friendly.

We will need some restructuring from a few players...prime candidates are:

1. Ryan Clady - current cap hit is $8.9 million...let's try and get that down to $4million and save $5million
2. Demarcus Ware - current cap hit is $10 million...I think we can get another $2 million savings from this
3. Louis Vasquez - current cap hit is 5.5 million...maybe another $1 million savings here

This brings our total down to $115 million

Prime candidates to be cut (post June 1):


1. Owen Daniels - $3.5 million
2. Britton Colquitt - $3.25 million
3. Louis Vasquez - $5.5 million

Our total would now be roughly $108 million keeping Vasquez or $103 million cutting him.
I personally am for cutting him as this line could use a huge makeover. I personally think Garcia and Schofield could be our guards for the future.

So we have $51 million to spend on:

1. Von Miller
2. Brock Osweiller
3. Malik Jackson
4. Danny Trevathon
5. David Bruton
6. Brandon Marshall restricted
7. Omar Bolden restricted
8. Matt Paradis restricted
9. Benny Fowler restricted
10. CJ Anderson restricted
11. RB depth
12. Right Tackle
13. Depth
14. Draft picks

Von Miller will cost $14 million roughly for franchise tag.

Now $37 million left

I think if Brock really wants to stay he is going to have to be reasonable. Max I would give him is $10 million, we have proven we don't need greatness at the QB position to win this thing. So we will keep this as a $10 million hit for whoever ends up taking the reigns.

$27 million left

Malik is a beast and is going to get big time money. Hopefully he can agree to something around $11 million cap hit with us.

$16 million left

Danny is great. Linebackers are a little easier to fill in than other positions, but he is a leader and has been money. I'm thinking around $6 million cap hit and we would be happy.

$10 million left

I believe our draft picks cost us just over $6.5 million in cap space.

$3.5 million left

For

5. David Bruton
6. Brandon Marshall restricted
7. Omar Bolden restricted
8. Matt Paradis restricted
9. Benny Fowler restricted
10. CJ Anderson restricted
11. RB depth
12. Right Tackle
13. Depth


As you can see to get everyone in is going to be impossible based on the money that is left. That's why there are a lot of tough decisions ahead, including cutting some players, or not resigning some of our free agents.

Another possibility is trading DT, which would clear $2.4 million in cap savings and gain us I'm sure a very high draft pick.

I think what may be done to make another run is give heavy signing bonuses to a couple of players (like Malik and Danny) spread out over 5 years or so. Freeing up a lot of cap space to keep this cap intact. It is possible because in 2017 Ware and Talib I'm sure will be of the books and will clear a lot of space. This usually screws teams over the long run, but with a couple players to make another run it might be worth it.

Let's hear your thoughts?

[samparnell]

I doubt if the Broncos will release Virgil Green. Hard to say about Louis Vasquez. I guess he might be traded, but if so, who starts at the Guard spots? Max Garcia will be back, but there was no mention of Evan Mathis.

[DenverBlood]

One thing you are wrong on is trading DT and getting cap relief.

It's already been stated in several other DT threads that trading him would come with a catastrophic cap penalty due to only being in year 1 of his new contract.

I don't know the number but I heard over $20 mil. Probably dead cap money or something. And one thing Elway is excellent is avoiding dead cap money.

Plus I guarantee you Elway has 0 intention of trading him so might as well forget that hypothetical.

Also I'm not sure some of the guys you mentioned will take as low as you mentioned.

Like Ware was huge this post season. I'm not sure he will come back for less money.

[kingelway7]

Anyone who thinks that Owen Daniels is gonna get cut is kidding themselves. Daniels has played every year of his career with Kubiak as either his head coach or his offensive coordinator. Daniels will restructure/take a pay cut if he needs to in order to stay.

[DenverBlood]

Also I say 0 chance trevathan stays for only $6 mil.

I'm sure he wants to be a bronco and stay with his teammates but this is a business. He might stay for a mil or two less but I'm betting someone would offer him 10-12. No way he would stay for only 6.

[DenverBlood]

Anyone who thinks that Owen Daniels is gonna get cut is kidding themselves. Daniels has played every year of his career with Kubiak as either his head coach or his offensive coordinator. Daniels will restructure/take a pay cut if he needs to in order to stay.

I don't even think that is necessary. He was one of our biggest contributors down the stretch. The big key against New England.

I can't remember if he had more than one catch Sunday but his first one was a major momentum builder to let the team say hey we can do this. After how horrible the last SB trip started.

We need to improve Oline but I think Owen Daniels is someone we need to keep.

[MarshallMoss]

One thing you are wrong on is trading DT and getting cap relief.

It's already been stated in several other DT threads that trading him would come with a catastrophic cap penalty due to only being in year 1 of his new contract.

I don't know the number but I heard over $20 mil. Probably dead cap money or something. And one thing Elway is excellent is avoiding dead cap money.

Plus I guarantee you Elway has 0 intention of trading him so might as well forget that hypothetical.

Also I'm not sure some of the guys you mentioned will take as low as you mentioned.

Like Ware was huge this post season. I'm not sure he will come back for less money.

If you look at the link, trading DT would give us $2.4 million cap savings. We only have $9million or so on him from signing bonuses...we do not assume his $13million dollar 2016 salary if we trade him.

I started this post so that we can all contribute to kind of brainstorm this out, so when Elway makes these tough moves we all might have a better appreciation why. The link to the 2016 salary cap is a great reference for us all. There are tough decisions to be made that are not going to please us all.
I know I am missing many factors, but will try and update this with your added contributions.

[MarshallMoss]

Anyone who thinks that Owen Daniels is gonna get cut is kidding themselves. Daniels has played every year of his career with Kubiak as either his head coach or his offensive coordinator. Daniels will restructure/take a pay cut if he needs to in order to stay.

Considering where we are in cap space, I would not be surprised with anything at this point. With our rookie TE coming back next year, I think for $3.5 million Owen Daniels is expendable. But either way, I trust our front offices decision on which way they want to go.

[MarshallMoss]

Also I say 0 chance trevathan stays for only $6 mil.

I'm sure he wants to be a bronco and stay with his teammates but this is a business. He might stay for a mil or two less but I'm betting someone would offer him 10-12. No way he would stay for only 6.

If you look at middle linebacker salaries Trevathon would probably be somewhere between $6 and $8 million. The $6 million I posted is cap hit, not necessarily his avg yearly salary as that can be creatively dealt with.

[MarshallMoss]

I doubt if the Broncos will release Virgil Green. Hard to say about Louis Vasquez. I guess he might be traded, but if so, who starts at the Guard spots? Max Garcia will be back, but there was no mention of Evan Mathis.

Hey Samp! That was my bad, for some reason I was thinking Vernon Davis (he is a free agent now). I agree I don't think Virgil goes anywhere, so I edited the post to reflect that.

[samparnell]

Hey Samp! That was my bad, for some reason I was thinking Vernon Davis (he is a free agent now). I agree I don't think Virgil goes anywhere, so I edited the post to reflect that.

OK. What about who plays the Guard spots if Louis Vasquez is released? Do you want to re-sign Evan Mathis? Max Garcia can't play both Guard spots.

[THEdraftnik]

OK. What about who plays the Guard spots if Louis Vasquez is released? Do you want to re-sign Evan Mathis? Max Garcia can't play both Guard spots.

Throw Sambrailo, Schofield, and Meyers Jr at LG and see what sticks.

[MarshallMoss]

OK. What about who plays the Guard spots if Louis Vasquez is released? Do you want to re-sign Evan Mathis? Max Garcia can't play both Guard spots.

Yea, I had mentioned making Schofield a guard. His makeup seems more suited for the position as stated from others.
He has had a year in our system as a starter at a very challenging position. I think he can handle guard and bring back some cohesion to the line that we will desperately need if Mathis and Vasquez go.

[samparnell]

Yea, I had mentioned making Schofield a guard. His makeup seems more suited for the position as stated from others.
He has had a year in our system as a starter at a very challenging position. I think he can handle guard and bring back some cohesion to the line that we will desperately need if Mathis and Vasquez go.

OK. So, theoretically, that would be a starting O-Line of Clady - Schofield - Paradis - Garcia - Sambrailo? Do you keep Ryan Harris and/or Tyler Polumbus as Swing Tackles? Will Robert Myers provide depth at G? Which of Ferentz/Brenner will be your backup Center?

[MarshallMoss]

OK. So, theoretically, that would be a starting O-Line of Clady - Schofield - Paradis - Garcia - Sambrailo? Do you keep Ryan Harris and/or Tyler Polumbus as Swing Tackles? Will Robert Myers provide depth at G? Which of Ferentz/Brenner will be your backup Center?

To be truthful Samp...I don't like many of these options. Maybe we have done some good developing with our backup depth. Considering our available funds, I really think we are going to rely on this draft to fill the gaps with what we have left. It will be open competition to all. I think Clady is a must resign/restructure though. As we know Samprailo is no gaurantee to come back healthy(:

But realistically, whatever we put out there can't be that much worse than what we saw last year. Harris and Tyler are free agents now, so not sure if worth resigning (especially Harris as he played LT almost all year and will want to be paid to reflect that)

What would you suggest Samp? You are probably the most expert of all of us when it comes to the O-line (and many other things)