In the wake of the NFL raising the salary-cap ceiling for 2025 to $279.5 million, based on Over The Cap‘s projections, the Denver Broncos now have $41.7 million in breathing room. The new NFL cap ceiling opened up roughly $7 million in cap space for the Broncos, which can go a long way on the free-agent market.

However, the Broncos could be planning to create even more salary-cap space between now and when the new league year opens on March 12. ESPN‘s Jeff Legwold reported this week that Broncos GM George Paton expects to have “about $52 million” by then.

“Denver should have at least $38 million to $40 million worth of cap space prior to any roster maneuvers or potential restructurings before the league year opens March 12,” Legwold wrote. “Paton said in January that he expected the Broncos to have ‘about $52 million’ in salary cap space by the time the new league year begins.”

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Where is that extra $10 million coming from? The Broncos clearly have some plans in place, and one way to create cap space is to restructure existing player contracts to free up room.

Teams can also release a player, convert salary to bonuses, or add additional void years on a contract, along with other forms of ‘salary-cap voodoo,’ to create cap space. However, the Broncos also have the option to move on from certain players to help get to that $52M number.

In terms of current Broncos contracts that could be restructured, candidates to consider include left guard Ben Powers and right tackle Mike McGlinchey, both of whom signed new deals in 2023 and have multiple years left on their contracts. The Broncos also have players they could approach about an extension, and none are more deserving than wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who enters a contract year set to make $13.5 million in salary.

Sutton will not only be hoping for an extension, but on the heels of a 1,000-yard receiving campaign, he’ll be looking for a raise. There are ways for the Broncos to extend him and even pay him more money, while reducing his 2025 cap hit, which currently sits at $20.2M.

When it comes to cutting players to free up cap space, the NFL rumor mill has floated multiple candidates this offseason, including Broncos safety P.J. Locke, linebacker Alex Singleton, and defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers. Such moves are always painful, and while there’s an argument for Locke and Singleton, it’s hard to see the Broncos moving on from Franklin-Myers after he over-delivered in Year 1 with seven sacks.

Suffice it to say, we’ll be keeping our ear to the floor on the subject of possible cap casualties between now and March 12. But when free agency rolls around, what really makes a difference is when teams have the available cash on hand to out-compete other suitors.

Sports Illustrated‘s Andrew Brandt, a former Green Bay Packers executive whose responsibility was to manage the salary cap and negotiate contracts, explained in a column from 2023 how cash is king in the NFL, not cap space, per se.

“In analyzing a player contract or a team payroll, many fans (and even media) focus on cap impacts. I am here to tell you to stop doing that,” Brandt wrote. “What matters is the cash, not the cap. Cash is real money in and real money out. Cap is simply bookkeeping. Even dead money—leftover nonroster charges for players no longer with the team—is merely unamortized proration clogging up the pipes of the overall cap. It is not cash.”

Denver has the wealthiest ownership in the NFL in the Walton/Penner group, which gives the Broncos a real advantage when negotiating with their own players and outside free agents. If a player is presented with a similar contract by two teams, but one offer includes a lot more cash upfront (signing bonus/early payout), that team will, more often than not, out-compete the other for said player’s services.

It will be interesting to see how Paton plans to get to $52 million in cap space and how much of that arithmetic from back in January included the projected NFL salary-cap increase. The NFL increases the cap ceiling every year, but it’s hard to predict accurately in January exactly how much it’ll climb by March.

Even at $41.7M in cap space, the Broncos are in a far better situation than they were last year. The specter of Russell Wilson’s punitive contract still haunts the Broncos, but it won’t be as restrictive on the team’s offseason maneuvers this year.

The Broncos had to get skinny last season and rely on the rookie class and the youth of the roster, which not only led to a great season and multiple players emerging as cornerstone pieces but also provided excellent fiscal experience for the front-office shot-callers. Credit to Sean Payton and his coaching staff for pulling off the feat.

“We had no choice,” Paton said back in January. “We could’ve taken a less of a hit last year, but we wanted to take the full hit because we were going to go young. Sean emphasized that to the coaches. We’re playing our young players.”

Armed with that much cap space and the wealthiest owners in football, fans can expect the Broncos to be bigger players on this year’s free-agent market. With needs at running back, tight end, wide receiver, defensive line, linebacker, and safety, the Broncos have the resources to fill most of them before the NFL draft rolls around in April.

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