The Denver Broncos are heading into the offseason with what might be their most challenging roster and salary cap situation in recent memory. They are still not a playoff-caliber team as is evident by an eighth straight playoff-less season, but they are also about to face significant cap issues with their impending decision to move on from quarterback Russell Wilson just two years after signing him to a mega $250 million deal.

Heading into 2024 free agency, the Broncos have 17 total free agents. 14 of them are unrestricted and three are restricted. A healthy number of every down starters are among those unrestricted free agents too.

This list has a lot of age to it and the Broncos are one of the older teams in the NFL, so we might see a shift to a much younger roster in Denver in 2024. In fact, the salary cap likely dictates that move. Of the ‘over 30’ crowd on this list, I would guess that kicker Wil Lutz and maybe running back Dwayne Washington return on cap-friendly deals.

The only name on this list that I really hope to see Denver bring back next year would be safety P.J. Locke. In all honesty, the Broncos are not losing any players here who I would consider an elite tier starter. I like a lot of these guys, but Denver can probably find sufficient replacements and only suffer marginal decline in performance on the field there.

These are all tough decisions that the Broncos will have to make when they get out from under Wilson’s contract. General Manager George Paton straight out said that the ramifications of such a move would take Denver out of any first wave free agents this season.

“We’ll have flexibility either way to do what we need to do,” Paton said this week. “We won’t be in on the first wave of free agency like we were last year. 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. Obviously, we have to hit on the draft. We’re picking high, and we have six picks. We could have more. You know we like picks. We’ll go from there.”

The reason for that is how the salary cap will set Denver back once Wilson is released. They are already $20 million over the cap and will need to start making additional roster moves and/or contract reworks to get back under that number. Wilson’s cap hit looks like it will slam them from 2024-2026 in dead money hits. The cap relief will finally start coming along in 2026 and then massively beginning in 2027. This likely means some additional aging veterans will move on too. Though I could see a number of players restructuring like Garett Bolles and Tim Patrick.

What do you think the Broncos should do to navigate this rather difficult set of circumstances in 2024? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.