Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - OUTLOOK: Denver Broncos SALARY CAP Situation Explained

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos will have $26 to $28 million in salary cap space right now, but that number is expected to go up and will tell you how they can use it to go all in for Broncos quarterback, Bo Nix. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, hey, hey, Broncos country, it's Friday. And you know what that means. It means there's a brand new episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:32 part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast. network in the country where you know it's your team everyday. Thanks to all you, every day is out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first list, however you choose to do so. We've got a lot to talk about here is salary cap space is a huge number, especially at the NFL Combine coming up. The NFL will have a new number

Starting point is 00:00:51 this year. We'll talk about the Broncos cap situation right now where it's not as great as people believe, but they can get it to a spot that is manageable here. Plus, we'll talk about maybe some restructured candidates and why Denver's offensive line is the primary candidate to undergo some new looks in terms of their contracts this coming off season. And then on top of that, we'll highlight maybe some other defensive cut candidates, how the Broncos can add more space here overall.

Starting point is 00:01:16 You get all that here on today's episode of the show. Brought to you by friends over there at Fandul. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandul, the official sports bidding partner of the NBA. I'm Cody Aurora. Credential Broncos reporter from all high sports. joined as always by Sarah Bettinger, site expert over there, predominantly orange.com. Sarah, let's talk about the salary cap situation right now.

Starting point is 00:01:39 I think, you know, a lot of people coming to the off season, including ourselves at times, right? We said, you know, hey, the biggest thing, the Russell Wilson dead cap is off the books. That doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get $33 million added to your cap space this upcoming year. It just means that you're not paying dead cap money to Russ anymore. But as Denver gets ready to go into the off season, they're around 26 to $28 million. right now according to spot track over the cap, those numbers fluctuate. But that won't be the number specifically because the NFL salary cap is expected to increase significantly, a record setting one.

Starting point is 00:02:14 Yeah, over 300 million as the salary cap for the very first time in NFL history. And just like it was a handful of years ago for the very first time, over 200 million for the first time in NFL history, I'm sure it won't be long before you and I are doing a show where we're talking about the NFL going up to over 400 million. in total salary cap. But it's, it's coming, everybody. You just, you got to wait for the day, but it's one of those things that look, when you look at the salary cap, like you mentioned, Cody, the Russell Wilson dead cap coming off the books doesn't necessarily give the Broncos that additional cap space. It just allows them to allocate their cap obligations, other places. They can

Starting point is 00:02:54 actually, you know, put that towards players who are go figure on the team. So that is where we're at entering this off season is the Broncos have, you know, not a, not a unlimited amount of cap space like the Tennessee Titans who are about $100 million under the salary cap at this point, but they do have ultimate flexibility, which we'll get into on today's show. But you're right. I mean, you said it during the show open. Like this is all about surrounding quarterback Bo Nix and making sure that you capitalize on the window that you are in. And you can't just, you can't just, like Sean Payton is adamant about this. There's no building off of last year.

Starting point is 00:03:33 You are starting from scratch. And that means that you have to go back and you have to say, okay, realistically speaking, where do we absolutely have to get better? The ball is not going to move forward for us unless we do this. And you have to approach your offseason with that level of aggressiveness. So while the Broncos may be sitting in the middle of the pack in terms of cap, space, Cody, just like every other team. It's like whose line is it anyway?

Starting point is 00:03:57 The points don't matter and the rules or whatever, you know, or whatever that saying is from whose line is it anyway. Everything's made up and the points don't matter. That's kind of like what the salary cap is, right? It's an arbitrary number that is, you know, there to be a placeholder, but you can manipulate it in so many different ways. And it's to ensure compliance as well across the league. I mean, for example, we'll take a look at the New Orleans Saints. One of the biggest things that people always said is, you know, how do they find a way to get out of the cap held that they're apparently in every year? it's just they maneuver.

Starting point is 00:04:28 You release some guys, you restructure some deals, you know, and the Broncos, I think the benefit to where they're at right now, having the cash richest ownership group in all of American sports. I mean, that helps when you have to give players, right, signing bonuses, so to speak there. But the Bronco's best approach here, Sarah, in terms of creating more salary cap space right now, depending on where you look, right? Spot track over the cap. Spot track has them around 26.03 million in top 50. one cap space right now.

Starting point is 00:04:58 I know over the cap has a different number. The numbers kind of fluctuate there overall. But when you look at the number of like the cap hits that a lot of these players that are on the Broncos roster are going to be going into 2026 having right now if you untouched, like if they're untouched, it's kind of crazy that your three highest paid players in terms of overall cap hit are your offensive line. We'll get in that here in a little bit. But I think the idea about being able to create some space here.

Starting point is 00:05:25 And let's use the Ken City Chiefs. example. They were in cap hell, so to speak, just a couple of days ago. But what they just did is they restructured Patrick Mahomes contract. They, what was it? 40-something million dollars, they restructured there and that freed up a lot of space for them to maneuver here this offseason. Understandably so. Denver can do that same approach, but the key is also maybe moving on from certain players there. But right now, I don't even know what this estimated number will be like. Let's say it still sits right now at 26 to 28 million. The new number hits, which is estimated between like $301 million to $305 million, what does that rollover look like in terms of creating that additive space?

Starting point is 00:06:07 Well, now you look at other teams around the NFL, the teams especially maybe that you're competing against, they're getting better. Seattle is expected to have money. The Chargers is expected to have some money. So it's like, how do you counter all of this stuff? It goes back to what George Payton, Sean Payton, and ultimately what Greg Penner said in their end of the year press conferences. They're going to be aggressive.

Starting point is 00:06:26 Now, Greg Penner himself indicated they're going to be aggressive, but they're going to be strategically aggressive. They're not just going to be reckless just to do that. But I do think to the organization, the vibe that I've gotten from those end of their conferences being around the team people that I've spoken to, they're not going to sit on their hands. They're going to push the chips in here, especially with Bow Nix on a rookie deal, knowing that, hey, maybe after this year they could pay him. They don't necessarily have to, right? They can obviously wait. They could do the fifth year option, so to speak, and then work into as he's getting ready. for the fifth year an extension.

Starting point is 00:06:58 You don't have to do it right now for a bowl, but eventually you're going to have to do that. So what are you going to do right now that amplifies, being able to push your chips in to say, we were a couple of plays away from the Super Bowl. How do we get back there? That is the question that the Broncos have right now. And it's a big one.

Starting point is 00:07:16 It's one that I think we're all kind of dreaming big in Broncos country of thinking about, hey, who could they trade for, who could they go sign, what positions could they upgrade? Where do they need to, you know, reset or bring back players, as we talked about on yesterday's show, right? So I think that that's all part of the equation right here. And there's a couple of things that are important to remember that, you know, Cody, we haven't given many PSAs yet here in the off season as far as getting ready for, you know, free agency.

Starting point is 00:07:44 And of course, there's a couple of things that are really important. And one of them is the fact that when you're talking about signing free agents, let's say a player signs for 16 million. million per season on a four-year deal. Well, that doesn't mean that the Broncos are signing somebody to count immediately $16 million against this year's salary cap. You structure deals to have lower cap hits typically in the first year or two of a contract. That's why Pat Sertan doesn't have the highest cap hit on the team right now. It's because you structured that deal to be exactly how you want it to be to fit what

Starting point is 00:08:20 percentage of the salary cap high. So if you sign somebody to a $20 million, deal. They're not going to count necessarily 20 million against your salary cap. Or if you sign somebody to two years, 12 million. It doesn't mean they're going to have a six million cap hit. That's one of the things that's important to remember now as you're maybe putting together your dream free agent list is, yes, there is a limit to what the Broncos can do in terms of, you know, bringing a cap hit down. But they've got one of the best in the business, Rich Hurtado, who takes care of all that stuff, who is an expert among experts when it comes to organizing the salary cap high.

Starting point is 00:08:59 We just saw what he did with the 90 million of Russell Wilson's dead money. And certainly you believe that without that on the books, with almost 100% of your salary cap available to use toward players who are actually on your roster, I mean, you figure these guys are about to work some serious magic. I would hate to have his job. I'll be honest with you. I'm not great at math. I know the basic.

Starting point is 00:09:20 I know basic math, but all that advanced stuff that he probably has to do on his. end to try to figure out in the grand scheme of things, how do the Broncos manage us? How do they stay league compliant? And on top of that, trying to figure out how do we add pieces that can build this team into a contender? That's stressful. Rich, fantastic job that you and George are doing there.

Starting point is 00:09:40 I do not envy you. That isn't the job that I do not want to have here. But I do think that is good to kind of point out maybe the myths that people think about free agency or the salary cap or contracts. And then it also gets in the conversation about restructuring deals or adding void years converting into signing bonuses. We're going to talk about that because Sarah and I, we're going to play around a little bit.

Starting point is 00:10:00 He's going to be on over the cap. I'm going to be on spot track. We're going to actually take a look at maybe what restructuring and moving on from some players would look like for the Bronco salary cap picture here in 26. We're going to do that here on today's episode of the show. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by our friends over there at Fanduil. And if you've ever wanted to experience the NBA finals live and in person,

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Starting point is 00:11:19 Although they're in the middle of the pack right now when it comes to cap space, Broncos can maneuver. things to pretty much sign whoever they would want to within the realm of reason here. And we're going to tell you exactly how they do that on today's episode of Lockdown Broncos. And we appreciate all of you every dayers out there that make us your first listen of the day every single day. If you're already an everyday listener of the show, Cody and I want to invite you to join the Every Day or All Access Club. It is the offseason, but free agency is almost here.

Starting point is 00:11:46 The draft is upcoming. The off season does not exist for the Everydayer Club. So join the group chat. You can talk Broncos year round with other members. of Broncos country as well as Cody and myself, and you get every episode of the show ad free plus more exclusive content. So we invite you to head to the show notes. Check out the link in the show notes for more on that.

Starting point is 00:12:05 And we appreciate you considering it today. Cody, let's talk about restructure candidates because I think that when it comes to this Broncos roster right now, what's really great and why they're in a position to be able to restructure players is because you have the foundation of the roster set the way that you want it, right? We've seen George Payton, Sean Payton, they've put long-term investments behind the players that they believe to be the core of this roster. So what that allows you to do is to kick the can down the road. And, you know, I like to compare it to this. Like if you're purchasing something and you use a credit card, we all know what that's like make payments on the credit card over

Starting point is 00:12:44 time or you use Clarna or afterpay, like pay in installments, you know, if you want to get that new pair of shoes like I sometimes do, but you're like, I don't want to drop $300. right now. I'm going to pay in installments. That's what the Broncos can do with some of their players that they already have on the roster, especially guys with no guaranteed money left on their deal or guys who already have a lot of time left on their deals. Yeah, and the biggest thing, too, is looking at the cap hit, right? And I think where we're going to start here, and obviously, Sarah and I were using two different systems. I'm using Spot Track. He's using over the cap.

Starting point is 00:13:20 And as we're both doing this at the same time, let's take a look at some players. You know, for SpotTrack, so to speak, it says that Denver's got $26.03 million in top 51 cap space. I know for over the cap on your end, what, it's 28 million something right there at that point, right? So the numbers are a little different here. But let's take a look as we're going through maybe some restructure candidates here. What makes sense? And starting off with the guy who's got probably the biggest overall cap hit on the team right now, veteran offensive tackle Mike McGlenshy coming into his ninth year, 32 years of age, a 233,

Starting point is 00:13:53 3.7 top 51 cap hit. I mean, Sarah, the Broncos have pounded the table for saying what they believe about their offensive line. It's one of their best units, highly graded unit there. I think we saw some blemishes without Bow Nix in the mix there. But this is not a time where you just blow up the offensive line and get new pieces around bow. That's not what you do.

Starting point is 00:14:17 In situations like this, restructuring probably makes the most sense. So I'm going to restructure on my end here when it comes to spot. track, I want you to restructure Mike McGlinchie's deal to see what it looks like. So when I do that, there's a conversion, a minimum base plus a bonus adds three void years. And that drops his cap hit right here, according to Spottrack from 23.7 to $11.2 million, which that alone right there on my end through Spottrack adds the Broncos cap space to 38.5 million from 26. What does it look like for you on over the cap when it comes to McGlinchie? Yeah, it's very similar on my end.

Starting point is 00:14:56 It gets his base salary down to 1.3 million and we're converting to a pro-rated bonus there of 11.675 million, which puts him at a cap hit just under 13 million, cap savings of 10.46 million. So just like that, I mean, we're talking one restructure of a player. Just Mike McGlinch, you restructure his deal and automatically you could use that nearly 11 million or like you're in your case, Cody, nearly 12 million or roughly 12 million. that would add you potentially to starting caliber players or allow you to bring back guys that are on your roster. So I think that's a super necessary one. And then on top of that, I think Quinn Miners is the other one, right? Where on my simulation for the offseason, you can add 11.73 million by restructuring

Starting point is 00:15:44 Quinn Miner's deal and getting his base salary down to about 1.2 million pro rated bonus of 8.4 million, cap number of 9.6 million. So those guys like on the offensive line, we're talking about $22, $23 million in total cap safe, nearly doubling what the Broncos currently have in terms of cap space with two simple restructures of those guys. When I do Quinn Miners in terms of converting him into a signing bonus, adding two void years here. Essentially, it brings Denver up to $51 million in cap space from 38, right? And that now moves his overall cap hit on mine. I know you mentioned 9.6 on Spot Track, it's showing as 9.

Starting point is 00:16:23 9.2. And then with that, like with McGlinchie's deal, then the contract that's remaining is two years, 35 million for Quinn Miners. It leaves three years, 53.3 million still left on his contract there. So that's nice. Like now we're cooking. Okay. 51 million dollars, 52, essentially between our two simulations that we're running here. Now, Denver can do a lot here. This is where things get very tricky. Let's get into Ben Powers, who if we restructured Mike McClintia and Quinn Miners, it drops them out of being those top cap hit so far in 2026. Ben Powers' cap hit with one year left on his deal, 18.1 million. Sarah, there is no way Denver's going to go into the offseason with that remaining the same. But here's the challenge,

Starting point is 00:17:08 right? Do you convert Ben Powers' remaining deal into a signing bonus? Do you find a way to do that? Or do you cut him, so to speak? Because now that leaves you without a starter at guard. This is where the dilemma is. What, where are you going with this one? This is a tough one because Ben Powers should, you would think would be motivated to do whatever is needed to figure this out. He has no guaranteed salary left. And he's coming off a year in which he missed two,

Starting point is 00:17:36 two plus months with an injury. So for a guy that has no guaranteed salary, I mean, you'd think he'd be willing to play ball. But he's one of those ones that I can't, I can't quite peg. Like if, if he's a pre-June 1 cut, Cody, Ben Powers would save you 8.38 million on the cap, but it would be a 9.775 dead million hit.

Starting point is 00:17:57 And that obviously changes if he's a post-June 1 cut, but then you can't use those savings until after June 1, and you're just splitting up the dead cap hit in general. So restructuring him doesn't necessarily make sense because he obviously only has one year left on his deal, although there are already void years built in. So maybe you do kick some of those. those bonuses in there extending him? Do you want to extend him at the age of 30, right? I mean, coming off a season with injury, do you want to extend Ben Powers at this point?

Starting point is 00:18:29 I feel like the most likely situation is that Ben does become a post-June 1 cut, but I think it would be after the Broncos have already addressed that position, whether free agency or the draft. And I could see them waiting to cut him until after they already have that solution in place. Okay, so do me a favor. apply that in your simulation and tell me what the cap space number looks like here after you run that specific post-June 1st cut so if he's a post-June first cut it would put the Broncos at you know effectively 81.8 on my simulation with all the moves that I've made here so I would I have over 80 billion but we'll I'll cut it back for just a second because I think that we haven't gotten to some of the moves that I've been thinking of yet that would put me at 64.5 million in total. cap space, but of course, the 12.7.3 million in savings from powers would have to sort of be deducted from that because it wouldn't be effective until after June 1st. So that he would still

Starting point is 00:19:30 count a cap number this season of 5.425 million for this team. And then obviously like we've mentioned here, he already has void years on his deal. So it would put, it would keep your cap space the same as what we talked about after the McGlinchie and miners moves. But after June 1, then you'd have a chance like we've talked about the AJ Brown trade, which was a polarizing idea for our listeners as well. So those are some of the things that you think about. I am going to do something completely opposite of you. I'm going to give him a three year extension here, right? 30 years of age, I understand it. But look at the age that Garrett Bulls was when they just gave him a four year extension. So I'm going to give Ben Powers. I think there's value in what he can bring to the table. I'm going to

Starting point is 00:20:10 give him a three year extension, which is around the market values three year, 41.9 million. that brings his cap hit to $4.4 million, right? So now here's the thing, okay, sign him to this extension. I mean, it gives Denver $9 million an extra caps way. So that puts it around $59.3 million. Right now, if it allowed me to cut him with a post-June 1st designation, it didn't really do anything in terms of moving the needle. It just, you know, accounted with that negative equity, so to speak, in his deal.

Starting point is 00:20:41 So that's three moves on the offensive line that puts Denver from 26 to 28 to around 59. million in overall cap space. But look, Broncos country, we're not done. We still have some more moves to make in terms of extensions, maybe even some releases. We'll get into that here on today's episode of the show. Today's show is brought to you of our friends over there at five-hour energy. Welcome to the five-hour energy flavor draft where we're looking at every aspect of the draft to let you know which tasty flavors are the best and which just might be sleepers.

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Starting point is 00:21:50 five-hour energy.com or Amazon. Sarah and I are continuing to play GM here for the Denver Broncos using some of the simulators that allow us to maneuver at the Broncos' cap space situation. We've restructured the offensive line, so to speak, with Mike McGlenshey, Quinn Miners. Sarah has released Ben Powers with a post-June 1st designation. I've decided to give him a three-year contract extension. Broncos, you know, with that all set, around $59 million in cap space with these moves, what can they do to create more? That's what we're going to talk about here in the final portion of today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:22:28 Sarah, let's continue on here, right? You and I just did an episode on contract extension candidates. Let's get into that here in a minute, but let's go through some potential cuts and obviously maybe some, you know, we did the restructures. But you and I have talked about the idea that maybe Denver moves on from Drey Greenlaw. If Denver were to do that in this situation, what would that look like for the Broncos salary cap space? What would that do? Well, that would add just over $6 million to the Broncos cap space if they were to cut Dre Greenlaw.

Starting point is 00:22:58 And it's important to remember, too, there's a dead cap figure. But the Broncos don't owe any guaranteed salary to Dre Greenlaw beyond what they paid him last season. So whatever they paid him last year when he signed is what he got in terms of guaranteed money. But there would be a dead cap hit and a cap. number of 4.33 million against his name. So it's not too bad. You get $6 million in cap savings. You can use that to replace him,

Starting point is 00:23:25 whether it's resigning a player like Singleton or Sanad or going after a Caden Ellis, like I'm going to continue to pound the table for. So you could do that. And I mean, obviously $6 million against the cap seems minimal, but we're also talking about the difference of Dre, Greenlaw, counting $10 million against your cap and presenting the risk of not

Starting point is 00:23:44 contributing to your team. versus saving $6 million, allowing him to count $4 million against the cap and replacing him with somebody that you may feel better about just in terms of health and longevity. So I think that's a real discussion that the Broncos are going to have to weigh, Cody. And it would bring my projected cap space up at this point to $70.5 million in total cap space, which is substantial. I mean, again, Broncos have, like we said at the beginning of the show,

Starting point is 00:24:11 they're cap space right now on paper. it's it's average right 26 to 28 million but when you start to get into the weeds of some of these moves you can more than double that so when we say on on our future shows man the broncos have flexibility to sign or trade for whoever this is what we're talking about yeah and i think you want to be able to have that right so i've added that in terms of if the broncos were to move off from jury green law it puts the caps base on my situation here because i mean you once again to reiterate the fans why why this number is different here. You post-June 1st designated Ben Powers to be cut.

Starting point is 00:24:47 I extended him. So right now with adding a release of Drey Greenlaw, that moves the cap space on my end from $58 million to $64.4. I'm also going to do something as well. I'm going to release Matt Parrott as well. And that's going to add two additional million, right? So $66.83 million in overall cap space at this point. Now I want to transition into the guys that we just talked about this week as potential contract

Starting point is 00:25:11 extensions in the off season. I think you and I gave two contract extensions in the off season to Brandon Jones to Marvin Mimps. So on your end, I want you to run a simulation about what it would do to extend Brandon Jones at this point here when you can customize it obviously in SpotTrack. But what does that do if you give Brandon Jones an extension here for the Broncos in terms of the Capsiris? Where basically your new terms you're giving him, would you give him a two or three year

Starting point is 00:25:37 million, two or three year extension at this point? Where would you lean? I'd give Brandon Jones a three-year extension, and I would raise his base salary from what was in an average of about 1.2. Yeah, so I'd bring it up. I'd bring it up to maybe, let's say, $9 million per season. And you could give him that three-year extension because his cap number right now is $9.33 million. So you could probably get that down to $4 to $6 million. So save at least $5 million against the cap if you extend him this off season.

Starting point is 00:26:09 And why wouldn't you? because he's a key piece of your defense. He's under the age of 30. He's already proven himself to be a great fit, both on the field and off. So to me, extending Brandon Jones is kind of a no-brainer. It's not necessarily the primary focus of the offseason right now, but it can help you at some. Maybe even that's another post-June 1 thing,

Starting point is 00:26:28 but if you want that cap savings now, you could extend him and get that $4 to $5 million in cap savings. So if I give him an extension on my end, what it does is it bumps it up to, you know, an additional $4 or $5 million in cap space. So now we're around $70 at that point, which I think that's awesome. I mean, that's kind of where I'm at right now is, all right, hey, like now you're cooking a little bit.

Starting point is 00:26:52 So now you have that flexibility. What about Marvin Mims? He's kind of the wildcard factor here, right? Because if we're going to give him an extension, if we get it based on market value, it would be three year 19.4 million, which would drop his cap hit overall from 6.1 to 2.4. If I give Marvin that type of extension right here, now all of a sudden, Denver's at $76.3 million in cap space on my end here, which in my opinion, you have that much money to work with. All right, you can push the chips in. What does that do for you on your end?

Starting point is 00:27:26 Yeah, it's the same type of thing for me. So depending on what your bonus is and if you add void years to the deal, over the cap gives you a lot of different leeway in terms of that. So you could really bring his cap hit down. And I think that another thing with Marvin is Cody is like, hey, now this offseason might be the time for him to cash in. He could get a similar deal to like we've mentioned before, Rashid Shaheed. That would be a good comparable to look at for him. But you could get that cap hit down while also giving him some guaranteed money and then

Starting point is 00:27:59 locking him in at a current rate, which will bring that percentage of the salary cap down into the future as well. I think another name we forgot to add. Maybe Jonathan Cooper is a restructured guy. What converting that is $14 million this season in terms of the cap. If I run a basic conversion here, what that really does is that gives me now an additional $10 million. So $84.5 million in cap space there with the simple restructure that drops his cap hit here in 2026 to $5.7 million. Not saying that Denver's going to go over four or five different guys. I say restructure, restructure, restructure, restructure, but these are just like, this is us playing around.

Starting point is 00:28:35 a fun simulator. I mean, 84 million. I'm with it. I would certainly do that. You're giving him a signing bonus. And now, I mean, obviously for him in terms of when you look at his contract, if you were to restructure him, he still has three years, $39 million left on his deal. So you have time.

Starting point is 00:28:52 And then like next year or the year after that, then you could start looking at maybe restructuring Pat Sartan or even Zach Allen at that point. So Denver does have some flexibility here going forward. Yeah, they really do. And I just think, man, like the Broncos are kind of out of crossroads with a few players, aren't they? I mean, Jonathan Cooper is an interesting name because you're not only entering the bigger years of his contract upcoming, but what you're also doing is you're entering into year three of Jonah Ellis, who the Broncos have said, like they had a round higher grade on Jonah than what they got him in the third round.

Starting point is 00:29:31 So they believed that he was a day two player in that particular draft. class. So at what point, Cody, do we start talking about the idea of, I know we've mentioned it with other players. Like, hey, could the team like floating the idea like Jaday Barron, if he's not a long term fit there or Riley Moss, if they don't view him as a long term contract player, did they trade those guys? Or what about Jonathan Cooper? Because Jonah Ellis is waiting in the wings. He could be ready for an opportunity to be a starter for you. I know you don't want to necessarily just mess with your depth. But I think it's also about, too, hey, what can we get in return for these guys because Jonathan is 28.

Starting point is 00:30:09 This is going to be his highest cap hit yet. And now you're at that crossroads with Jonah where you're not going to be able in the near future to make a super informed decision about whether or not he's going to be a long-term piece for your team. So a lot of complicated roster discussions happening after we've had the band together for this amount of time. We want to run it back as much as we can. But there's obviously discussions that might get had.

Starting point is 00:30:34 and teams certainly will see this situation. Other teams around the league are going to be calling the Broncos about these players. Yeah, and the challenge here, though, with Jonah is just the injuries that he's had so far through his first two seasons. I mean, he even had a major injury in college in his last year, right? Then rookie season, he has the shoulder injury. That didn't impact him much, but then he suffered a, you know, fractured ribs and also another shoulder injury. And then hamstring for a while, like he's been hit with three different injuries in 2025. That definitely probably impacts the optics.

Starting point is 00:31:04 what those conversations look like going forward here. But that's definitely something to factor into the conversation here. And look, Broncos Country, listen to your thoughts here on today's episode of the show. If you want to play around and beat GM as well, you can go to Spot Track, you can go to over the cap and you can maneuver. You can restructure, cut, give extensions to players. Go play it out and let us know what you came up with on your own simulations here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. With that said, Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much.

Starting point is 00:31:30 Sarah and I, we will see you next week for another episode of the show, the Broncos. George Payton, Sean Payton, they're set to be at the NFL scout and combine, which begins next week. And you know what? We're going to have you covered every step of the way. Will Sean Payton address play calling? Will he talk about his relationship with Bo Nix? Will he give an indication as to what they're looking for this off season? Will Kay Adams interview?

Starting point is 00:31:49 We don't know. We're excited just to find out with you here, Broncos Country. We'll see you then.

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