Sometimes in life, you feel like you’re a step behind. Nothing big, but yet, it creates a difference between where you should be and where you are, and this small difference has consequences. Well, that’s how it felt looking at the Celtics’ off-ball defense last night.
Denver, CO
Understanding the Denver Broncos' salary cap situation – DNVR Sports
It’s officially the offseason in Denver, and that means it’s time for a salary cap refresher.
Maybe you don’t know how the NFL salary cap works. Maybe you need a refresher. Maybe you already understand the cap and don’t need to read any of this.
Regardless, here are answers to some of the questions Broncos fans might be asking this offseason.
(All of the numbers below come from Spotrac, OverTheCap or the NFLPA.)
How much salary cap space do the Broncos have?
-$30 million.
The number isn’t set in stone quite yet. Sometime in the next two months, the NFL will announce the official salary cap for the 2024 season. Most projections expect the cap to be about $242.5 million, which is up from $224.8 million in 2023.
The Broncos currently have about $273 million in salary cap liabilities for 2024. They’ll roll over their $1 million in unused salary cap space from 2023. That will leave them about $30 million over the expected salary cap, which places them in the bottom five of the NFL in cap space.
In other leagues, going over the salary cap can be allowed. For example, MLB has a luxury tax, or a tax on all spending past the limit.
The NFL has a hard cap, though. There’s no exceeding the limit.
Why don’t the Broncos have salary cap space?
These are the 10 biggest earners for the Broncos in 2024, by salary cap hit:
- Russell Wilson ($35.4 million)
- Garett Bolles ($20 million)
- Zach Allen ($19 million)
- Mike McGlinchey ($18.5 million)
- Justin Simmons ($18.25 million)
- Courtland Sutton ($17.3 million)
- Tim Patrick ($15.57 million)
- Ben Powers ($15.25 million)
- Jerry Jeudy ($12.99 million)
- DJ Jones ($12.96 million)
These 10 players take up $185 million in cap space, or about 76% of the salary cap.
Can NFL teams spend cash instead of salary cap?
No. Every dollar a team spends on players must be accounted for in the salary cap.
However, when teams account for that money is flexible, especially with excess cash.
NFL contracts can provide players money in various ways, but the two most common ways are through salaries and signing bonuses. Salaries must be accounted for in the year the team gives the player the money, but signing bonus money is split evenly across each year of the contract.
For example, imagine the Broncos sign a new player to a five-year contract this offseason. If they give him a $10 million salary in 2024, that will add $10 million to the Broncos’ salary cap spending in 2024.
But if they give him a $10 million signing bonus, the cap hit is split over all five years of the deal. In salary cap dollars, the bonus would cost the Broncos $2 million in 2024, $2 million in 2025, $2 million in 2026, $2 million in 2027 and $2 million in 2028.
By spending cash up front—a signing bonus—the team gets to push some of the salary cap implications down the road.
Every dollar the team spends on players must be accounted for in the salary cap, but cash signing bonuses can push that accounting to future years.
How will the Broncos get under the salary cap?
The Broncos have two primary ways they can reduce their salary cap liabilities.
- Trade or release players.
- Restructure contracts.
The first option is clear. If somebody has a $15 million non-guaranteed salary in 2024 and the Broncos decide to release him, they would gain $15 million in 2024 salary cap space.
The second option is more complicated.
A contract restructure means the team and the player agree to change the contract. This can be adding incentive, reducing pay, or any number of other things.
The most common type of restructure is a “simple restructure.” In this case, the player’s salary is converted to a signing bonus, which (as explained above) spreads his salary cap hit of the remainder of his contract.
Let’s look at Mike McGlinchey’s contract, for example.
McGlinchey has four years remaining on his deal. In 2024, his salary is $15 million. If McGlinchey and the Broncos agree to a simple restructure, they would reduce the salary to the minimum veteran salary (about $1.5 million) and convert the rest ($13.5 million) to a bonus. That bonus would be split over all four remaining seasons for salary cap purposes.
Instead of accounting for the entire $15 million that McGlinchey is due in 2024, the Broncos could reduce his cap hit to $4.875 million (the $1.5 million minimum salary plus one-fourth of the $13.5 million bonus).
The downside is that the Broncos’ salary cap bill for McGlinchey will increase in each of the other three remaining seasons by $3.375 million, one-fourth of the bonus.
For the Broncos, pushing some of the salary cap money down the road could make sense.
For McGlinchey, accepting the restructure makes even more sense. Instead of waiting until football season to get paid his $15 million in weekly installments, he gets the bulk of the money right away.
Who could the Broncos trade to clear salary cap space?
The Broncos could save at least $45 million in salary cap space in 2024 by trading any of these players:
Garett Bolles — $16 million
Justin Simmons — $14.5 million
Jerry Jeudy: $12.99 million
DJ Jones — $9.97 million
Courtland Sutton — $9.65 million
Tim Patrick — $9.5 million
Zach Allen — $7.75 million
Jarrett Stidham — $6 million
Ben Powers — $5.5 million
Alex Singleton — $4.67 million
Mike McGlinchey — $4.5 million
Who could the Broncos release to clear salary cap space?
The Broncos could save at least $5 million in salary cap space in 2024 by releasing any of these players:
Garett Bolles — $16 million
Justin Simmons — $14.5 million
Courtland Sutton — $9.65 million
Tim Patrick — $9.5 million
DJ Jones — $9.97 million
Jarrett Stidham — $4.5 million
What is dead cap?
Dead cap is money that is accounted for in the salary cap for a player that is no longer on the team.
For example, Randy Gregory has a $7.1 million salary cap hit for the Broncos in 2024. That is “dead money” because Gregory is no longer on the team.
Dead cap is the remaining money that has been paid to a player, but hasn’t yet been accounted for in the salary cap. Gregory’s dead money comes from two places:
- His signing bonus.
- A restructure.
Gregory signed a 5-year, $70 million contract with the Broncos. His salaries in the first two years (2022 and 2023) were guaranteed.
Gregory got a $10 million signing bonus. For salary cap purposes, that bonus cost the Broncos $2 million in each of the five seasons. The Broncos traded Gregory in October, during his second season. That left three seasons of signing bonus—$6 million—to be accounted for. That’s $6 million of the $7.1 million of the dead cap hit the Broncos will take in 2024.
Even though the Broncos traded Gregory to the 49ers, Denver is still responsible for that dead cap hit, because they were the ones who gave him the cash. Whoever pays the cash must also pay the cap hit.
The other $1.1 million of Gregory’s dead cap hit for Denver comes from a restructure that was done at the time of the trade to make the deal a little sweeter for the 49ers. We won’t dig into those numbers though. You get the point.
Can the Broncos cut Russell Wilson?
Yes.
The Broncos have two paths to release Russell Wilson:
- Release him in the next two months.
- Release him after two more seasons.
In theory, the Broncos could move on from him at a different time, but that would be financially reckless.
Here’s why: Wilson’s contract includes a guaranteed salary for 2025, but only if Wilson is still on the roster on March 17th, 2024. If the Broncos release Wilson before that date, they won’t owe him any of his $37 million 2025 salary.
So, if the Broncos keep Wilson for the 2024 season, they might as well keep him for the 2025 season, too. They’ll be paying him either way.
If the Broncos move on from Wilson this offseason, his cap hits will look like this:
2024: $35.4 million
2025: $49.6 million
2026+: $0
If the Broncos keep Wilson for the next two seasons, his salary cap hits will look like this:
2024: $35.4 million
2025: $55.4 million
2026: $18.4 million
2027: $12.8 million
2028+: $0
In other words, the Broncos won’t save any salary cap space this season if they move on from Wilson, but they will save $37 million (Wilson’s 2025 salary) over the following three seasons.
Will the Broncos be able to sign free agents?
Yes, but probably not like last year.
The Broncos were one of the NFL’s biggest spenders in free agency in 2023. They brought in Mike McGlinchey, Ben Powers and Zach Allen. All three players earn at least $10 million per year.
Broncos general manager George Paton gave his take on the situation at his end-of-season press conference.
“We won’t be in on the first wave of free agency like we were last year,” Paton said. “You can’t do that every year. We’ll be very strategic and very specific on what positions and what players we try to sign.”
If the Broncos wanted to get aggressive, they could find a way to get a top-10 free agent. But they would need to do some gymnastics to make the numbers work.
Most free-agent contracts include big signing bonuses and smaller first-year salaries. That means cap hits are generally low in Year 1.
For example, Mike McGlinchey’s average cap hit on his five-year deal is $17.5 million. But his Year 1 cap hit was $6 million.
While the Broncos probably won’t make any big moves in free agency, they can probably do more than you’d expect given their current situation. Most of the bills for new players will be paid down the line.
Which Broncos will be free agents?
Eight of Denver’s starters will be unrestricted free agents this offseason.
- ILB Josey Jewell
- C Lloyd Cushenberry III
- CB Fabian Moreau
- TE Adam Trautman
- S PJ Locke
- DT Mike Purcell
- FB Michael Burton
- K Wil Lutz
The following reserves will also be unrestricted free agents:
- CB K’Waun Williams
- T Cameron Fleming
- DT Jonathan Harris
- LB Justin Strnad
Have more questions? Leave them in the comments below.
The University of Denver will close the Ricks Center for Gifted Children next year as enrollment has fallen in recent years, the college announced this week.
The Ricks Center, which serves gifted children as young as 3 years old, will operate for the 2026-27 academic year before closing, according to a letter DU sent parents on Wednesday.
“The University of Denver has made the difficult decision to close the Ricks Center for Gifted Children at the conclusion of the 2026–2027 academic year,” spokesman Jon Stone said in a statement. “This decision reflects long-term operational and financial considerations and is not a reflection of the school’s quality, leadership, or community.”
The center, which is located on DU’s campus, was started in 1984 as the University Center for Gifted Young Children. The program offers classes to students in preschool through eighth grade, according to the website.
The program, along with other public K-12 schools in the state, has experienced declining enrollment in recent years. The center enrolled 142 students for the 2025-26 academic year, which is down from 200 pupils four years ago.
The center will hold a meeting about the pending closure on March 6 for parents.
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David Fountaine Black
OBITUARY
Dave and Martha and their three boys moved to Denver in 1974 when Dave started work at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. He and a business partner later purchased Mid-America Plating Company. Dave operated Mid-America for 36 years and finally retired in 2018.
He was a great golfer and natural athlete. Dave was an avid runner, and for many years, he woke up before the sun to get his miles in before work. He and Martha loved playing bridge with friends, gardening – growing fruit and flowers – and spending time outside relaxing and walking on the High Line Canal Trail and in Bible Park. Dave and Martha enjoyed getting back to Arizona during the winter at their Tucson home. They loved spending time with their family.
Dave passed away on February 20, 2026. He is loved by family and friends and will be missed. Dave was a hard-working, kind, optimistic, and thoughtful person who leaves the world a better place. He is survived by his wife, Martha, and his three sons, Dave (Robin), Tom (Debbie), Eric (Kendra), as well as six grandchildren and three great grandchildren, Casey (Nicole), Jake (Ashleigh and great granddaughter Faye), Hailey (Robby and great granddaughter Jensen), Keenan (Nicole and great granddaughter Olivia), Griffin, and Addie (Erik).
This first bucket from the Nuggets is a great example of the Nuggets being a step ahead. The screen from Cam Johnson causes a bit of chaos as Derrick White and Jaylen Brown don’t switch, leaving a lot of space for Jamal Murray to cut to the rim. A few possessions later, it’s Brown again who is half a second late when Johnson starts moving, and that’s enough for the Nuggets to punish the Celtics.
Denver is a very smart, very well coached team. It isn’t a surprise they involved Jordan Walsh’s matchup in the screen because the young wing has a tendency to overpressure off-ball. Therefore, with all the screens and movement the Nuggets are creating, it is hard for him to keep up.
This game was a great example of what makes a team like Denver so good. They can find a breach in a great defense by targeting players’ tendencies. Like the Celtics, they scout, they learn, and they adapt their approach to the opponent, and it worked out pretty well, even in garbage time.
#2 – The offense broke under pressure
On offense, the Celtics lost the ball on more than 15% of their possessions. When this happens, the Celtics have a 50% win rate. Taking care of the ball is one of the foundations of that team, and they couldn’t deliver last night. Led by Bruce Brown and Spencer Jones, the Nuggets put a lot of pressure on the Celtics’ ball-handlers.
They also didn’t hesitate to bring a second defender to force a quicker decision and generated some mistakes from Boston. With that appetite for steals and the domination on the offensive glass, the Denver Nuggets were able to generate 10 more field-goal attempts than the Celtics. And when the Celtics lose the possession battle, it becomes a lot harder to compete against the best teams in the league.
It was a different sight than usual on defense for the Denver Nuggets. We are used to seeing Jokic hedging on the pick-and-roll to force a pass and put pressure on the ball-handler, but this wasn’t the case last night. The guards put a lot of pressure while the Serbian was commanding from the back.
It was an interesting way to take away the paint from the Celtics while showing bodies beyond the three-point line. While Jokic was in the paint behind the pick-and-roll, the Nuggets’ closest defender next to the screen would come to disrupt the action.
Thanks to that, Jokic had less effort to expend on defense and could compensate on offense. In some possessions, Jokic would come up to surprise the ball-handler and create some chaos, like here:
But overall, the 3-time MVP remained in a drop position, and this explains why the Celtics had so much trouble getting to the paint last night.
#4 – Denver daring Ron Harper Junior to shoot
The young wing is discovering the NBA and what it is like to be scouted by the best teams in the world. After a standout performance against the Suns, he was back on the bench to start the game. Yet, like every other player on the roster, the Nuggets scouted him and had a plan in mind for when he would come onto the court.
As the defensive plan was to protect the paint at all costs, they decided to leave him alone beyond the line to make sure the Celtics touched the paint as little as possible.
The Celtics tried to get him involved in the screening action, hoping he would draw some attention from the defense, but the Nuggets couldn’t care less about his shooting threat.
In the end, that approach worked out pretty well for Denver as Harper shot one for seven from deep in 10 minutes. This also took away part of his offensive impact, and the Celtics had to adapt their rotation.
Because the Nuggets were willing to leave non-shooters open, the Celtics tried their double-big lineup again. If the opponent isn’t going to respect your shooters, you might as well play big. And the idea makes sense.
Because the Celtics played with two bigs and the non-shooter of the two is Neemias Queta, Vucevic was matched up with a smaller player. Therefore, it was easier for him to get a mismatch in the post. However, it was also easier for Jokic to come help from behind because of Queta’s presence in the paint.
To make this work on offense, I think the Celtics need to work on high-low offense with more movement from the off-ball players around the two centers. Defensively, it brought more rebounding stability and rim protection. The Celtics could target non-shooting threats like Christian Braun so the paint remained stacked.
If the Celtics can build some offensive synergy between Queta and Vucevic, things could be really fun and bring a great balance against big teams like Denver.
Because Denver was so aggressive when it came to protecting the paint, the Celtics decided to start their actions from the half-court line to stretch the Denver defense.
Here, a zoom action for Derrick White starts from half court, with Sam Hauser screening at the logo and Queta handing off at the three-point line. Because of that space and the distance of the screen, Jones has more difficulty containing White. This created a little bit of chaos in the defense and worked pretty well.
Yet, starting from deep isn’t enough, and using screens correctly remains one of the most important parts of off-ball actions. Here, look how easy it is for the Denver Nuggets defenders to stay connected to their matchup despite the various screens.
The idea was great, the execution not so much. Yet, it gives some perspective on how the Celtics offense can adapt when the spacing is missing.
#7 – More volume for White?
Looking at the stats from cleaningtheglass.com, I’m left with a couple of questions.
First, why didn’t White have more opportunities with the shot? He was really efficient with 1.25 points per shot attempt, created chaos with his speed and passing, and yet his usage was pretty average.
In the meantime, Jaylen Brown’s usage was once again close to 40% despite really low efficiency. When the defense shrinks the space like last night, I would like to see more possessions for White to unlock Jaylen Brown off-ball.
Against such a smart defense, isolation and drives in a crowded paint won’t work as much as usual, and the Celtics need to readjust how JB plays against elite teams to make sure to maximize him next to a great connector like Derrick White. The former Colorado guard scored 18 points in the second quarter but couldn’t get anything going after that.
#8 – More minutes for Hauser?
A second question I would have asked is why Sam Hauser didn’t get more minutes. As we saw earlier, the Nuggets were willing to leave a shooter open to protect the paint – even if that shooter was Sam Hauser.
So, when Sam was the guy next to the ball on the pick-and-roll, it created great things for the Celtics because the help defender couldn’t fully commit. And if he did, the Celtics could swing the ball to the wing.
Even if he didn’t make all the shots, the added value in spacing was so crucial that it was vital for the Celtics to keep him on the court to have the best chance on offense.
#9 – Be patient with Vucevic
It took seven games for someone to raise the question – let’s be patient. And also let’s take a step back and remember that Vucevic isn’t the Celtics’ savior. He never has been an efficient scorer, never been a great interior defender. But he is a smart player with great passing for a 7-footer.
If you are expecting Nikola Vucevic to reach Kristaps Porzingis’ numbers in rim protection and scoring efficiency, well, be prepared to wait for a while because it never was the case. However, Vucevic can bring a push in the possession battle while providing spacing and great secondary passing once he gets more comfortable in the Celtics offense.
Let’s be nice, let’s be patient, this roster isn’t changing anytime soon.
#10 – Out of gas, out of air
Three games in four days, the last one 5280 feet above sea level, and the Celtics were out of gas and out of air.
This month, they played six games on the road, a lot of time away from home. March should be far more comfortable with nine games at TD Garden.
Might be the perfect timing for Jayson Tatum to come back (and for me to book a ticket from France to cover some games from the ground).”
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