Just like fellow 2020 offseason acquisition AJ Bouye, defensive lineman Jurrell Casey will have to hope to land on his feet elsewhere for 2021 and beyond. After just three games with the Denver Broncos, Casey is being released by the team, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Broncos released DT Jurrell Casey, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 25, 2021
This move does not come as much of a shock after Casey was limited to just three games in the 2020 season with a biceps injury that prematurely ended his campaign.
The Denver Broncos, more than probably any other team in the NFL besides the San Francisco 49ers, were ravaged by injuries in the 2020 season that completely derailed their hopes of showing improvement on the 7-9 record they posted in 2019.
According to Spotrac, the Denver Broncos had over $36 million in cap space prior to releasing Casey from the roster. Releasing Casey saves them just under $11.9 million against the 2021 salary cap, putting them in the top five in the NFL in available cap space at roughly $48.4 million.
Frankly, it’s difficult to know. The NFL right now has a working 2021 salary cap “floor” of $180 million. Some, including Broncos NFLPA representative Brandon McManus, expect the cap to ultimately settle closer to $188 million.
#Broncos player rep Brandon McManus believes the salary cap number will settle at $188 million, a number he's sticking to he told me today. #Denver7 https://t.co/hePG2yTqAo
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) February 18, 2021
If you trust McManus in that, the Denver Broncos’ available cap space would be on the higher end. Overthecap.com, another salary cap calculator tool for NFL fans, calculates the Broncos’ available cap space closer to $43 million after this release, but they are working with the cap floor of around $180.5 million.
To make things even more confusing, if the cap is actually set around $188 million, then the Broncos’ available cap space would exceed $50 million.
Let’s just say at this point, the very worst-case scenario for the Broncos is that they have $43 million (roughly) in available 2021 cap space, and that would place them in the top five in the NFL for the most available space.
Having as much cap space as possible is going to help the Broncos make decisions on players like Justin Simmons, Von Miller, Shelby Harris, and others. They will need up to $9 million to re-sign restricted free agents like Alexander Johnson, Tim Patrick, and Phillip Lindsay. They will need additional space to sign their rookie class.
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If they need to free up more space, there are other players they could let go of, but the veterans Bouye and Casey were the highest-priced veterans projected to be gone this offseason and those moves are now both official.