Who should we dump and how much will it save us.

[lex]

Wow, this team has an enormous amount of non-producing salary. So then, with that in mind who would you cut and how much would it save us?

[lex]

This was a post made earlier by eddie mac. I thank him for his handiwerk.

Cos that's approx what he'll be on the books for come next season.

Champ turned $4.78m of 2007 base salary into a signing bonus which prorates through the final 3 years of his deal to 2010 thus that's his new whopping figure for 2008 (includes a base salary of $7.5m).

Whilst there's no doubt this guy is the best player to wear the Denver uniform for a while is one player really worth over 1/10 of a team's cap room

Here's some more approx cap hits for Broncos in 2008.

Champ Bailey $12.5m-base $7.5m
Matt Lepsis $7.1m-base $4.5m
Ian Gold $4.9m-base $2.75m
Dre Bly $4.8m-base $1.0m
Javon Walker $4.2m-base $2.1m
Tom Nalen $4.1m-base $1.9m
Dan Graham $4.0m-base $700k (additional $5m option bonus kicks in in 2008 which is already prorated)
John Lynch $4.0m-base $2.0m
Ben Hamilton $3.6m-base 2.81m
Rod Smith $3.5m-base 1.5m (contract is guaranteed no matter whether he returns or not)
Patrick Ramsey $3.45m-base $700k ($2m option/roster bonus due in 2008)
Travis Henry $3.4m-base $730k
Jay Cutler $3.2m-base $648k
DJ Williams $2.35m-base $850k
Alvin McKinley $2.0m-base $1.33m
John Engelberger $1.6m-base $1.33m (There's a good chance John's deal voids saving the team his base salary)
Jarvis Moss $1.5m-base $370k
Warrick Holdman $1.5m-base $1.0m


Every other player's cap hit should be below the $1m mark unless their base salary gets upgraded via the performance system the NFL operates.

Here's the poorly paid contributors

Elvis Dumervil $545k
Brandon Marshall $550k
Tony Scheffler $695k
Chris Kuper $485k
Marcus Thomas $475k
Selvin Young $370k
Andre Hall $370k

The Broncos have approx $7-$8m of dead cap room on the books for 2008 (Al Wilson and Gerard Warren)

They also should have somewhere around $20m mark in free cap space with 47 players under contract (currently between $96m-$97m) without touching any of these deals

[rovolution]

Gold will probably not be back and Lepsis will be forced to restructure.

[alkemical]

I think DJ's contract is up soon

[SoCalBronco]

Originally Posted by claviculasolomonis

I think DJ's contract is up soon

He's an UFA after next season, since the final season of his deal (2009) is voidable.

[HEAV]

Originally Posted by claviculasolomonis

I think DJ's contract is up soon

2009

[cutthemdown]

I think Gold is gone for sure, Hamilton I think makes it back, Lynch I think retires, Lepsis will be asked to take a pay cut.

[Inkana7]

They wanted Gold gone last offseason.

[SoCalBronco]

Originally Posted by Inkana7

They wanted Gold gone last offseason.

Indeed...and his replacement (Timmons) was targetted in the last draft. Ian got saved because we could not afford the financial aspects of getting rid of him and Wilson in the same offseason.

Mr. Pyrite will not be so lucky this time around. The clock is ticking.

[maher_tyler]

Originally Posted by lex

This was a post made earlier by eddie mac. I thank him for his handiwerk.

based off this i think Hamilton will be gone, holdman, smith restructure, ramsey will be gone, engleberger...maybe Todd S...

[cutthemdown]

I think Broncos will give Hamiton a chance to make it back. Maybe I am just being a homer but we sure could use him. He is loads better then Kyper and Meyers.

[lex]

Originally Posted by cutthemdown

I think Broncos will give Hamiton a chance to make it back. Maybe I am just being a homer but we sure could use him. He is loads better then Kyper and Meyers.

Theres no gurantee he will be next year. Look at Lepsis this year. Plus Kuper is young. Honestly, I think Kuper has been our best OL. Thats not saying a lot but Lepsis and Pears have been pure garbage. Of Holland, Myers, and Kuper, Id give Kuper the edge.

[TheDave]

Originally Posted by maher_tyler

based off this i think Hamilton will be gone, holdman, smith restructure, ramsey will be gone, engleberger...maybe Todd S...

I think the Todd S thing is already taken care of...

[cutthemdown]

Originally Posted by lex

Theres no gurantee he will be next year. Look at Lepsis this year. Plus Kuper is young. Honestly, I think Kuper has been our best OL. Thats not saying a lot but Lepsis and Pears have been pure garbage. Of Holland, Myers, and Kuper, Id give Kuper the edge.

I realize he may not come back but it's not like it was his knee or something physically he's ok. If his head heals up then I don't see him hangin up the cleats. I think Holland played the best of the interior lineman this year and I agree the tackles were horrid. Pears honestly looked better at LT last yr. Lepsis to me played like his back was bad. He played stiff and didn't seem to move his feet well. I'm not saying he was injured only trying to figure out a reason why he looked so bad all yr.

[rovolution]

Originally Posted by lex

Theres no gurantee he will be next year. Look at Lepsis this year. Plus Kuper is young. Honestly, I think Kuper has been our best OL. Thats not saying a lot but Lepsis and Pears have been pure garbage. Of Holland, Myers, and Kuper, Id give Kuper the edge.

Holland has been the best in my eyes, but i agree.

The interior of the line is set, regardless of whether Nalen returns or not.

Pears has been playing that "George Foster Football" and needs to take a seat on that bench.

Lepsis is clearly not the same, but lets see what Harris is made of.


From reading the Hamilton piece in the Post, I honestly believe his NFL career is over. Thats just terrible the whole situation with his children and his wife. The Broncos should not even let him come back if the situation due to concussions is affecting his family life to that degree of severity.

[TheDave]

Originally Posted by rovolution

Lepsis is clearly not the same, but lets see what Harris is made of.

My fear is that even though Lepsis has been playing poorly most of the year Harris has yet to challenge him for a position. Granted he did have a great game against the Chefs but in 3 out of his last 4 starts he has been beaten all to regularly...

With that type of performance i would at least expect to see the rookie get a series or two.

[lex]

Originally Posted by rovolution

Holland has been the best in my eyes, but i agree.

The interior of the line is set, regardless of whether Nalen returns or not.

Pears has been playing that "George Foster Football" and needs to take a seat on that bench.

Lepsis is clearly not the same, but lets see what Harris is made of.


From reading the Hamilton piece in the Post, I honestly believe his NFL career is over. Thats just terrible the whole situation with his children and his wife. The Broncos should not even let him come back if the situation due to concussions is affecting his family life to that degree of severity.

Im not comfortable with Harris.

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by TheDave

My fear is that even though Lepsis has been playing poorly most of the year Harris has yet to challenge him for a position. Granted he did have a great game against the Chefs but in 3 out of his last 4 starts he has been beaten all to regularly...

With that type of performance i would at least expect to see the rookie get a series or two.

We also have a habit of letting our rook OL's sit a year too

[lex]

Originally Posted by claviculasolomonis

We also have a habit of letting our rook OL's sit a year too

Why is that? Is it because a lot of our linemen are projects taken in low rounds?

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by lex

Why is that? Is it because a lot of our linemen are projects taken in low rounds?

No, i remember reading when we drafted foster - that it takes time to learn our scheme, so they sit and learn it before they play.

[lex]

Originally Posted by claviculasolomonis

No, i remember reading when we drafted foster - that it takes time to learn our scheme, so they sit and learn it before they play.

Alright, well part of it has to do with what you have at the time and our offensive line has bottomed out where Tackle is concerned. Whereas, in 2003 that may have been a luxury, in 2008 its not so much. Our Tackle situation has reached crisis stage and a young guy we draft may need to play because he's better than what we have.

[alkemical]

Yeah, i dunno - since i'm not a coach - i can only assume that i wouldn't put a guy in who's been hurt a good part of the year and may not have good strength and parts of the playbook down.

[Elway777]

If both Lynch, ,Smith and Nalen retire that should save about 6 million against the cap. If Gold is cut that should save some money but don't know how much which depends on signing bonus accelaration. I also don't know what saving the broncos get from cutting Lepsis or if Hamilton retire which would depend on signing bonus payed to them. I don't think the walker figue is right . If you look at Henry contract he only has a base of 700,000 but cap# of 3.5 which would say Henry has a big bonus comming to him next year. I wonder if the Broncos should not just cut Lepsis and trade up in the draft to get Jake long using our 2008 and 2009 first rounders.

[rovolution]

Originally Posted by Elway777

I wonder if the Broncos should not just cut Lepsis and trade up in the draft to get Jake long using our 2008 and 2009 first rounders.

If he turns out to be Joe Thomas (aka a good player), we gave up too much for one guy, but if he turns out to be Robert Gallery (a bad player), the franchise has been set back by a decade.

[telluride]

Shanny. $5 mill plus.