What does Denver's Cap Room look like?

[Broncos_ATX]

Hey

As many of you have noticed, there are 3 big name Free-Agents out there right now without a team in Jeremiah Trotter, Simeon Rice, and Reggie Williams. Denver honestly needs to pick up atleast 2 of those 3.

Trotter could fill the hole that Al Wilson left behind.

Reggie Williams is a young and upcoming WR that could learn from Rod Smith this year and eventually step up and help fill the hole that Rod Smith will soon leave behind.

Simeon Rice is a no-brainer considering Ekuban is out for the season and Jarvis Moss + Tim Crowder could both learn from him. Rice and Moss could be the starting D.Ends and Tim Crowder could back them up and learn from Rice.


But, of course, in this day and age, it's all about the money. Does anyone have an idea on what Denver's Cap Room looks like at the moment? I don't exactly know how much money that Denver has at the moment, although I would assume they should have a pretty good deal of money around since they are no longer paying Al Wilson's and Jake Plummer's salary.


Let the discussion begin.

[Bronco_Rob]

Reggie Williams hasn't even been released yet has he? Besides, we're deep enough at receiver so I don't think they'd bother bringing in another one, no matter how good he is.

[hardcorebronco]

Hey

As many of you have noticed, there are 3 big name Free-Agents out there right now without a team in Jeremiah Trotter, Simeon Rice, and Reggie Williams. Denver honestly needs to pick up atleast 2 of those 3.

Trotter could fill the hole that Al Wilson left behind.

Reggie Williams is a young and upcoming WR that could learn from Rod Smith this year and eventually step up and help fill the hole that Rod Smith will soon leave behind.

Simeon Rice is a no-brainer considering Ekuban is out for the season and Jarvis Moss + Tim Crowder could both learn from him. Rice and Moss could be the starting D.Ends and Tim Crowder could back them up and learn from Rice.


But, of course, in this day and age, it's all about the money. Does anyone have an idea on what Denver's Cap Room looks like at the moment? I don't exactly know how much money that Denver has at the moment, although I would assume they should have a pretty good deal of money around since they are no longer paying Al Wilson's and Jake Plummer's salary.


Let the discussion begin.

Well if Denver is following its typical off-season pattern then i think we probably have very little room left. Remember, we signed D. Graham to a nice juicy contract, as well as brought in: Travis Henry, Brandon Stokely, Dre Bly and many other guys in through the free agency this year. And after releasing Wilson and trading Plummer it only means their cap counts against us earlier and all at once rather than over the period of their contract. It doesn't totally free us up from all of their guaranteed money.

I also think the front office spent most of the money they had available already, i mean just how many big name free agent signing happen in the pre-season? Most anyone worth their weight is gone by this point and very rarely do we ever make any high bids on free agents this late in the off season. So I really doubt we planned ahead in order to have much pocket change left at this point. On the other hand losing Eukaban and Warren may have helped the cap some. I think we may have enough to go after maybe one of those guys, but i doubt two would be relistic.

Of the three listed, i think it makes the most sense to pursue Trotter.

Wr is almost not an issue, Javon, Marshall, Stokely, and possibly Hixon / Kircus / Clark would be serviceable as back ups. Don't forget the role that TE's play in the passing game under shanny either. We should have plenty of weapons for Cutler right now. We need to spend the little we have on someone who can contribute immediately, not later.

S. Rice... i have to think there is a reason he is not signed by someone already. Its not like he is flying under the radar as a low profile guy... Maybe something is really wrong there and he can't play like he used to, and he likely wouldn't be worth the money he would command... who knows. Besides, DE's under Bates are practically solely responsible for putting pressure on the QB. Dumerville / Moss / Crowder are all good enough to do that if we have to squeeze in a position somewhere.

MLB. Now i love D.J. just as much as anyone else... But i don't see him coming in and being a pro bowl LB like Wilson or like what Trotter would be for us if he came here. D.J. has struggled stopping the run so far which is the primary and absolutely most important responsibility of the linebackers in Bates' scheme. It doesn't matter what scheme we are running in the pre-season vanilla or not. Stopping the run is apart of the basic fundamentals of the game. For having this many years in the NFL, he should be able to cope better at that position so far. That doesn't mean he wont transition to be a good one some day, but he certainly isn't there yet. And I don't really feel comfortable going into the season with a huge question mark there. It doesn't matter if the back four can stop the pass all day, if the front seven can't stop the run. Trotter could come in immediately and contribute to leading the defense in the middle and stopping the run. If you want D.J. to have more playing time then thats fine, just put him in as MLB on third downs in obvious passing situations. He can learn the position from Trotter and have some time to transition there for next season or so. Trotter also stated he would love to play in Denver, and that money wasn't an issue with him. That's my kinda player.

Of all three you mentioned, Trotter seems to be the best fit in my opinion. He would be a better value for cost as well i think.

[stnzed]

As of June 29th...

...the Broncos had 6.442 million to spend on it's rookies, Cedric Cobbs and the great John Browning.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2920574

[Bronco_Rob]

and the only person that took any of that cap room to sign was Jarvis Moss...Cobbs is making nothing unless he makes the team except his 1300 per pre-season game veteran check (thus no cap hit). Browning was signed at the vet. minimum (thus very little cap hit). Ryan Harris is a second round pick with a low salary, Tim Crowder as well. Marcus Thomas has an incentive laiden contract with a low base salary and low guarenteed money (thus little cap hit) If I had to guess, I'd say we only took a 2mil. hit by signing all of these players. That leaves us some room to work with for Trotter (who will probably sign for slightly more than the veteran minimum, Simeon Rice is probably not going to happen given the fact that he hasn't even scheduled an interview with us. Reggie Williams hasn't even been released yet not to mention the fact that we have plenty of receivers as it is so there really isn't room for Williams although he would be a big target for Cutler, especially if Rod Smith is going to be out for a while (which is looking to be the case). Hollis Thomas is about to be cut by the Saints. Thomas would be our biggest need (along with Trotter) and we'd have plenty of cap space to sign both of them. I guess we'll just have to see what happens...

[Morambar]

This is what made the Adams signing so good, and what made signing Godfrey so attractive to me; apparently Joe Gibbs found him as irresistible as I did though, so Trotter looks like the best way to go if he doesn't break the bank. With Ekuban gone I wouldn't mind picking up a good run stopping end, but after dealing away our beefiest tackle (except the occasional Adams) and the way we've been run on so far I'd rather have the DT. I think our ends can do the job if they have the inside presence stuffing the run, drawing doubles and collapsing the pocket, but otherwise QBs will step up in that pocket the way they did all last year and have so far this year.

LB has never stopped being one of my top two concerns and DT only briefly did, so if we can find a way to get Trotter or someone like him I really think we need to do so. Currently we have ONE guy who's started at MLB in the Pros: Nate Webster, who's never impressed me as a MLB and looks to be starting at Sam. If he OR D.J. gets hurt I'd expect D.D. Lewis to come in, with Cameron Vaughn the next backup; anyone else feel comfortable with that? Much rather have Webster and Trotter fighting it out to be the starting Sam/backup Mike, with the knowledge the loser will still be a pretty good player, just not starting caliber.

[Broncos_ATX]

Ya, I felt signing Trotter would be the best action at this point if possible. Bringing in Brandon Stokley somewhat softens the arguement of siging Reggie Williams, and Simeon Rice is already on the decline of his career. Trotter on the other hand still has 2-4 more Pro Bowl calibar seasons left in him.

Also, aren't we going to get that 7 million something dollars from Plummer's contract, as well as the Bucs getting about 7 million?

[hardcorebronco]

Ya, I felt signing Trotter would be the best action at this point if possible. Bringing in Brandon Stokley somewhat softens the arguement of siging Reggie Williams, and Simeon Rice is already on the decline of his career. Trotter on the other hand still has 2-4 more Pro Bowl calibar seasons left in him.

Also, aren't we going to get that 7 million something dollars from Plummer's contract, as well as the Bucs getting about 7 million?

No. We don't get any money out of the deal. We ship him off with his contract (except guaranteed money) for a 7th rounder. And the Bucs have the rights to him. If he doesn't play then they may seek to get 7 million back from him. But we don't get anything. Even if we did, that wouldn't go to expand our cap, because that 7 Million wasn't counting against our cap.


If i am wrong or missed anything someone correct me lol...

[Bronco_Rob]

No. We don't get any money out of the deal. We ship him off with his contract (except guaranteed money) for a 7th rounder. And the Bucs have the rights to him. If he doesn't play then they may seek to get 7 million back from him. But we don't get anything. Even if we did, that wouldn't go to expand our cap, because that 7 Million wasn't counting against our cap.


If i am wrong or missed anything someone correct me lol...

Since we traded him, we did not pay him the roster bonus, the Bucs did. The Broncos and Bucs are going after him together to share the prorated signing bonus that Denver already gave him, and the roster bonus the Bucs gave him.

[JoRo]

I do NOT get why people always say we need to make noise... there is a reason all three of those guys are available still (or in Williams case going to be... if he hasnt been released havent followed that closely)

Trotter AND Rice are both past their prime. If we sign Rice to a incentive laden contract that is about the only thing I wouldn't think was a waste. Trotter is essentially a one down linebacker (running downs) why waste the money on a guy that limited?

Williams has been a bust, and is a tall possession wideout who cant catch consistantly and becomes invisible at times (proven by his week 6-11 las year where he had like 100 yards combined... not sure the exact number but it was bad... my FO book down in my car I could fix that if someone doubts me)

Rice IF he comes cheap and OUR ends are THAT bad is the ONLY one even WORTH looking at..... so lets stop this "BLOW OUR MONEY ON USELESS PLAYERS" crap every other day PLEASE!!! Then again I don't look here very often anymore since the season has pretty much begun and these threads are the only ones left... so vent away bout this stuff