Salary Cap Outlook 2014

[BMORE]

With the threads about Decker and other impending free agents, I wanted to share where we stand from a cap standpoint going into next season.

-We will have 41 of 51 Salary Cap counted players under contract this offseason.

-Those 41 players count for $118 Million against the salary cap.

-The cap is projected to be $126 Million next season.

-We can roll over about $6 Million towards the cap from this year.

-This gives the Broncos $14 Million in cap space.

-It costs about $5 Million to sign 7 draft picks.

http://overthecap.com/teamcap.php?Te...ncos&Year=2014

[crush17]

Champ Bailey will either take a huge cut or be released. Zero dead money.

[BMORE]

Champ Bailey will either take a huge cut or be released. Zero dead money.

Deffinatley the leading candidate for restructure or release.

[SonOfLe-loLang]

Deffinatley the leading candidate for restructure or release.

Dreesen and Tamme arent looking too good either.

[BMORE]

Dreesen and Tamme arent looking too good either.

Yeah I could see both elsewhere next season.

[ATL-Eric]

Go ahead and add another 18M or so to available funds because Kuper, Champ, Tamme and Dreessen are all but gone

[bpc]

Champ is gone. Dreesen/Tamme are on the block. Beadles won't be resigned unless he comes in at a steal of a deal. Knowshon is a extremely large question mark as well.

Going to be an interesting offseason. Denver needs to win the Super Bowl this year because the margin for error only gets tighter in the coming seasons.

[bpc]

BTW, I think Elway has done a damn good job as GM. That being said, we will know in 2-3 years how good he is managing the cap, talent overall and where this team is at. Manning even with less talent can get most teams to 10-6 so it will be interesting to watch.

[ColoradoBuff]

Dreesen and Tamme arent looking too good either.

and Kuper

[BroncoMan4ever]

I'm not worried about the cap. There are numerous guys who will be let go or restructured. Add in Peyton has shown he is willing to restructure his contract if the team is strapped.

[TheChamp24]

I think Tamme might actually stay, Dressen is gone though. He hasn't done anything for us this year. I think Virgil Green has done more.

Cutting Champ, Kuper and Dressen would save us around another $16 million.

So we would have roughly $27 million I think after draft picks to resign players/acquire free agents.

I do not see us being big players in free agency as resigning will take up a lot of the cap space. Maybe if Peyton restructures we could...

[ColoradoDarin]

I think Tamme might actually stay, Dressen is gone though. He hasn't done anything for us this year. I think Virgil Green has done more.

Cutting Champ, Kuper and Dressen would save us around another $16 million.

So we would have roughly $27 million I think after draft picks to resign players/acquire free agents.

I do not see us being big players in free agency as resigning will take up a lot of the cap space. Maybe if Peyton restructures we could...

You post all this and I don't have to type it up.... Ditto!

[bpc]

I guess moving forward Denver needs to consider, "what is our identity?"

On offense we have tied our money into PFM, Clady, & Vasquez. I imagine we will see D. Thomas and Orange Julius tied up here soon. That's a pretty damn good nucleus. Probably leaves guys like Franklin/Beadles/Decker/2nd-3rd TE's/Welker on the blocks over the next couple seasons. The organization is going to have a huge decision to make with Knowshon who has been very productive the past two years but have drafted 2nd/3rd round picks invested at the HB spot. Ball has definitely flashed this season despite early troubles holding the ball but can run and catch. Hillman could be a good change up back but also has fumbling issues. CJ Anderson looks like a player but has never done it in the regular season.

On defense is looks much bleaker. We have no identity. Champ is old, probably gone next year. DRC & Harris coming up as FA/RFA this year. Webster flashed early but has had an up and down year. Safety position is awful but we have Moore for another season. Not a guarantee how he comes back when he gets back on the field. Ihenacho looked great early in the season, preseason, got hurt and hasn't played with the same confidence this year and has bounced back and forth from starting and being benched. Bolden is awful. He probably has grade A talent, but a grade F brain because he's always out of position. Bruton appears to be strictly a ST guy because he's been on the field in only the most dire of situations.

LB is in flux. Miller was supposed to be the bed rock of this defense... his future is much in doubt with the franchise IMO, on one hand because of his drug suspension issues, on the other hand because Miller's bread and butter was his explosiveness. While some athletes come back better from ACL's, some never get back to where they were, especially COD. See Terrell Davis & Edgerin James. Woodyard is a free agent and got benched halfway through the year. I doubt he's back when some team could get him at a relatively decent contract to play the WILL position and he probably does great there. We are banking on Trevathan being a player IMO which is why we changed to him calling the plays vs. WW halfway through the season. Early prognosis looks good but he's had his share of maturity issues, see dropping the football before crossing the goal-line early in the season. Nate Irvin seems to play by default and I haven't seen enough of S. Johnson to love what I see.

DT looks good with Vickerson, Knightonn, and Williams all getting major minutes and coming back next year but DE is very much in doubt. Wolfe's future is BLEAK in my opinion. I doubt we can count on him even if he eventually overcomes whatever is ailing him. Ayers and Phillips are FA's this offseason. I've always got the opinion that JDR does not care for Ayers which is why he's been benched numerous times. Doubt he's back next year unless we get him back on a cap friendly contract. Malik Jackson is probably a starter by default next year. He's flashed but we need bodies to challenge him. Quinterus Smith will most likely play as well. Mincey is a mid--year pickup who can't make his meetings on time. Maybe it was just Jacksonville. He did however compare life in the NFL to being on the treadmill, and leaving JAX for Denver was hopping on a better treadmill... not really a confidence building statement that the guy is going to sellout to be as great as he can. He also lost interest in football as the season went along and spent more time in his customer built music studio.... his words, not mine. ALRIGHT.

As you can see on the defensive side, Elway is going to have his work cut out for him. As it is, the offense is already outspending the defensive side of the ball $66M to $48M in 2013 which is a very large discrepancy IMO and something I think Elway knows he has to even out or we get stuck in the situation where the Colts were in a few years back featuring Peyton and gang with no defense against better overall teams. Considering that Denver needs to lock up D. Thomas and Julius Thomas in the upcoming season, Decker/Beadles/Knowshon are probably gone unless they come back for reasonable contracts which would be bad business sense for them and is unlikely. Champ will be gone but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few strategic purchases on the defensive side of the ball similar to what we did with Louis Vasquez this past offseason to get some talent/leadership anchors on that side of the ball for the competitive balance of this team.

[Houshyamama]

Chris Clark and Manny Ramirez are absolute steals for us right now.

[bpc]

Chris Clark and Manny Ramirez are absolute steals for us right now.

Agree. I'd like it if Denver rolls into next year with the OL looking like this:

LT - Clady, LG - Vasquez, C - Manny, RG - Franklin, RT - Clark

That would put our best five on the field. It also preps us for Franklin leaving in 15' as he'll also be a free agent. Guards are easier to replace than tackles so we might as well get Clark comfortable now.