NFL teams this time of year are always trying to figure out how to properly position themselves before the frenzy of free agency begins.
It’s the start of a window in which teams are able to throw out their best offers in hopes of landing a player or two that they feel will give them the greatest chance to be better than they were the year before. There’s often a handful of teams interested in some of these players, and having a winning tradition is usually not enough to win these bidding wars.
Usually, it comes down to who can offer a guy the most money.
One way to create some cap room is to release veteran players, a routine occurrence this time of year. Often times, those transactions are seen as big surprises.
The Denver Broncos already made one such move on Wednesday, cutting ties with veteran safety Darian Stewart. Though the team will eat some “dead money,” the move will still save the Bronco roughly $3.5 million against the salary cap.
According to OverTheCap.com, the Broncos currently have about $34.5 million in available cap space, and that’s with Stewart still on the books.
Here are four more moves the Broncos could make to create additional space.
1. Case Keenum
The Broncos would eat an absurd amount of dead money ($10 million) in Case Keenum’s deal, but they’re essentially doing that regardless by trading for Joe Flacco when the new league year begins.
Cutting ties with Keenum would create an additional $11 million in cap space.
If the Broncos could manage to trade him, they would see an even bigger number in that category, but it’s not likely any other team is going to take him. There have been rumblings that the Broncos want to keep him, but that would be an awfully expensive backup quarterback.
2. Derek Wolfe
Derek Wolfe is one of the longest-tenured players on the team, so this move likely wouldn’t be very popular. However, cutting him would bring the team $8.5 million in additional cap space and only cutting Keenum or Emmanuel Sanders would bring the team more.
Wolfe has fought through some tough injuries and always comes ready to play for the team. He is a fixture on defense and a team leader. Cutting him would be difficult, but it’s something that may be discussed.
3. Ronald Leary
A way for the Broncos to save $7.4 million in cap space would be to release Ronald Leary. That sentence probably sounds like a lot to take in for a team already weak on the offensive line, but there’s plenty to consider here.
For starters, in two seasons with the Broncos, Leary has played in only 17 games. That’s being available just over 50 percent of the time. On top of that, in his seven-year career, he’s played a full 16-game season just once.
Mike Munchak is the team’s new offensive line coach. He is more than capable of turning a guy like Billy Turner, who is coming off a strong season, into a terrific permanent replacement for Leary.
With those things in mind, does it still sound crazy to move on from this guy?
4. Todd Davis
The savings wouldn’t be huge ($3 million in cap space), but Todd Davis could be a candidate to be a cap casualty as well. If the Broncos designated the move as a post-June 1 cut, that number would jump to $4 million.
Vic Fangio is going to have big expectations out of his inside linebackers and it’s quite possible that Davis won’t be able to live up to them. Expect to see the team address the position in the draft, but if they were to cut several of these players, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that they would take a shot at a guy like C.J. Mosley, who will be available on the open market.
