Spending by Position
Because we’re facing down free agency with so many possibilities around the roster, positional spending is immediately in the minds of the Broncos organization. AJ Bouye and Jurrell Casey have been early cap casualties this offseason, and Paton has already cleared nearly $24 Million from the books with these moves.
According to Spotrac.com, projecting a $185 Million 2021 cap, the Broncos have $17 Million in rollover, and now have just over $46 Million in cap space to make their moves. While Simmons will likely command north of $15 million a year on his contract, this still gives Denver plenty to work with in free agency, even with the dip in the salary cap this year.
So where should this money go? By the numbers and a lot of time spent on Spotrac Premium, we can see where SB teams are allocating their money, and where positional spending pays off.
The first thing that is apparent, is that QB mega-contracts do not equate to Super Bowl wins. The average winning team’s spending under center for the entire QB room was just 9.31% of the cap, or 12.5 million each year.
This was obviously impacted by wins from Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes on rookie contracts, but only two victories came from QB’s making over $20 million a year. Tom Brady, again according to Spotrac, had cap hits of $28 million in 2020, and $22 million in 2018.
In a day and age where top quarterbacks are commanding $30, $40, $50 million a year in contract talks, it is critical to see how team-friendly deals help build championship teams. Spending 20 percent of your cap on a passer, (looking at Matt Ryan and Big Ben) is far too much, and with Mahomes’ cap climbing into $50 and $60 million territory in the coming decade, one wonders how this will affect the rest of his team in the long run.
To see how much these QB’s were paid versus their peers, the average Super Bowl-winning QB ranked 20th in cap hit, with just Eli Manning (2011) and Tom Brady (2020) ending up in the top five. Russell Wilson (2013), Nick Foles (2017), and Patrick Mahomes (2019) fell out of the top 30. None of the #1 paid quarterbacks have won in the past decade.
Obviously, the window for superstars on rookie deals is rare and brief, but it is a proven path to a ring. Bargain backups like Foles going on a tear are also not the most common occurrence, but all this data does go to prove that spending reasonably at the QB position pays off.
Around the Roster
In order of percentage of the cap, these teams are actually spending the most money at wideout, followed by quarterback, tackle, outside linebacker, safety, defensive end, tight end, cornerback, defensive tackle, running back, guard, special teams, and finally center.
The Broncos are fortunate enough to have cheap, high-end wide receivers for the next few years, and value at the most expensive position group could pay dividends around the rest of the depth chart.
The Denver Broncos are paying just $6 million to the quarterback room, and with a cut looming for QB3 Jeff Driskel, that number would drop below $3 million. This could offset some of the premium the team is paying for Bolles and James at tackle, or go towards acquiring more talent under center.
It’s looking like safety will be a big position to spend on with the elite tandem of Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson, and the Von Miller question is drawing nearer every day. However, it is good to know that we have value at WR, and tons of space to breathe at QB moneywise.
Quarterback is going to remain the biggest question of our offseason, but with this little money at the position, we could easily stand to trade for Deshaun from an accounting perspective with his $15.9 million cap hit for 2021.
We could also go out and swing on a veteran backup like Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jacoby Brissett, or Tyrod Taylor and still feel very comfortable with our spending at QB.