The Denver Broncos will not be picking up Ron Leary’s 2020 contract option and will save over $8 million in cap space as a result.
John Elway revealed to reporters at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine that the Denver Broncos will not be picking up the 2020 club option on offensive guard Ron Leary’s contract.
Leary was a big-money free agent pickup from the Dallas Cowboys in the 2017 offseason, and he was expected to stabilize one of the two guard spots in Denver’s lineup.
Unfortunately, injuries kept him out of 19 games in three seasons with the Broncos, and John Elway and the front office were not about to spend $1.5 million on Leary’s contract option (fully guaranteed) to find out if he could stay healthy in 2020.
The Broncos will pick you the options on Brandon McManus and Todd Davis, but not Ron Leary, per John Elway.
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) February 25, 2020
Prior to this move being official with the NFL, Leary’s contract counts $9,312,500 against the Broncos’ 2020 salary cap space. When the move officially goes through, it will save the Broncos $8,437,500 in 2020 salary cap space.
At this point in time, the Broncos have just over $62 million in 2020 salary cap space according to Over The Cap. Declining Leary’s option will put the Broncos at just roughly $70.55 million in 2020 cap space.
If Joe Flacco is released, as he’s expected to be, the Broncos would have $80.6 million in 2020 cap space to work with prior to the start of 2020 free agency.
That’s more than twice as much cap space as I can remember Elway having to work with in a given offseason.
What is he going to do with all of that space?
That remains to be seen, but the Broncos have plenty of needs to be filled. One certainty is the return of Justin Simmons. Elway confirmed that the team hopes to get a long-term deal done with him, but the Broncos would use the franchise tag on Simmons if need be, and that would be around $12.7 million in 2020 cap commitments.
Ultimately, all of this financial talk means that the Broncos have plenty of 2020 salary cap flexibility. John Elway and the front office have done a lot more with a lot less space than the team has this offseason, and even with so many in-house free agents to consider, the Broncos will be able to put together a plan and bring in impact players via free agency at any tier they choose.