Broncos Salary Cap Update After Final Roster Cuts

It's time to diagnose where the Denver Broncos stand on the salary cap.

Aug 18, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton during the first quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Empower Field at Mile High. / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

With NFL teams having set their 53-man rosters, their practice squads, and designations to injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list, we have a better idea about every team’s cap situation.

The Denver Broncos are tight against the cap, per Over the Cap’s estimations. The Broncos are currently at $1.33 million in cap space.

Some may wonder why the Broncos would be tight against the cap after parting ways with at least a couple of players who had notable cap hits. However, during the offseason, the top-51 rule was in effect, meaning only the top 51 cap hits counted toward the cap.

That rule is no longer in effect, meaning all players count toward the cap, including players on the practice squad, injured reserve, and the PUP list. The Broncos’ practice squad accounts for $3.4M in cap space, those on IR count for about $3.2M, and those on the PUP list equal about $2.4M.

While the Broncos are under the cap, they're likely going to need to find a way to gain a little more wiggle room, so they have some flexibility throughout the season if other players need to go on IR. In such cases, they would need to add another player to the 53-man, which means more money paid to the player.

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It’s possible we see another move by the Broncos to get that wiggle room. The Broncos could approach either Courtland Sutton or Alex Singleton about a small restructure, to convert base salary into a signing bonus, which would lower their current cap numbers.

Another possibility is to pay somebody an injury settlement and then release the player. It’s not likely that happens with Quinn Bailey, because his injury is significant, but perhaps the Broncos do this with Damarri Mathis if they are confident in the corners they currently have on the roster.

There’s always the chance the Broncos extend somebody, but it would need to be in a way to lower that player’s current cap number. Patrick Surtain II, for example, has a cap charge of $6.7M, so if he were extended, it’s possible his cap charge could be lowered a bit.

The other way to gain cap space is through a trade, but if the Broncos wanted to do that, one would have been done by now. Of course, a trade could happen during the season before the deadline, at which point the Broncos would gain some cap space.

As far as the 2025 season goes, it’s still too early to say what the cap position will look like, though the Broncos should be in decent shape. Right now, all reports on 2025 cap space are based on projections, so estimates for next year's base salary cap are conservative, and the cap space reflected does not indicate any carryover teams might have.

But we’ve seen the Broncos navigate the cap situation before, so they should be able to do so again and still not hurt their position next season. Chances are we’ll know more in the days to come about what the Broncos do to get some more wiggle room for 2024.

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