6 reasons the Denver Broncos are the best spot for Matthew Stafford
Why the Denver Broncos are the best spot for Matthew Stafford
4. The Broncos can afford it
The Denver Broncos carried over more than $17 million in cap space from 2020 to 2021. With a couple of salary cap casualties and a projected league cap of around $188 million (per Broncos kicker Brandon McManus), this team should have no issues whatsoever fitting Stafford and his $20 million cap hit (2021) on the books.
The Broncos do not have a ton of big contracts on the books, but they do have a few that they will have to make some interesting decisions on.
Denver does not have a plethora of cap space like the Indianapolis Colts do, but there is no doubt they could find a way to fit Stafford into their budget.
The biggest issue fans may take with the potential cost of acquiring Stafford (his AAV is already middle-of-the-pack for starting quarterbacks, believe it or not) has little to do with the financial impact and everything to do with the cost of trading valuable draft capital.
What is going to be the price of acquiring Stafford? Would it be the Broncos’ 9th overall pick? The 40th overall pick and then some? Would players have to be included?
At this point, nobody really knows because no one knows how desperate other teams are going to be to acquire him. The market could dictate what the Denver Broncos would have to pay in terms of a trade, and if it’s assumed a team like the Colts or 49ers would have no issue parting with their first-round pick given the state of their roster otherwise, the Broncos would probably have to pay a price that could cause some fans to lose sleep at night.
Losing the 9th overall pick, in particular, for a quarterback with two years left on his contract would be slightly cringe-worthy, but if the Broncos were investing a high draft choice (or more) in a player like Stafford, this would be considered a likely five-year move if all goes well.
The immediate impact of losing draft capital would be hard for fans to stomach, but in the long run, there might be more benefit to all parties involved because of how Stafford would presumably raise all boats in Denver.
An impact quarterback like Stafford might be worth more to the Denver Broncos over the next four years than whatever defensive player they could select with that 9th overall pick.
With nine total selections in 2021, the Broncos have the draft capital to afford Stafford. In fact, of the teams with any sort of rumored interest, they actually have the highest pick in each round.
Not only do they have the draft capital, but the Broncos also have the financial flexibility to make this work.