The Denver Broncos’ 2022 season is effectively over, and the organization may hit a mini-reset and gear up better for the 2023 season. The Broncos may not win another game this year, and I truly believe in that, unfortunately.
What was supposed to be a rebounding year for the team has turned into one of the worst seasons in team (NFL?) history. Nathaniel Hackett was a disaster of a hire, perhaps the worst the NFL has seen in years, and the roster has been decimated by injuries.
Russell Wilson is also playing horribly, and depending on who you ask, it’s because he’s washed up or because of coaching. Whatever the case may be, the organization is going to do quite a bit of work in the offseason to re-tool this roster to make the Wilson addition work.
From the coaching to free agency, the Broncos should look a bit different this year. Unfortunately, as of now, they do not have a ton of cap space. Free agency is going to be huge for Denver this year. It’s unknown whether or not any free agents would want to come to the Broncos given how their season has gone this year, but getting the coach and staff right is a huge boost in trying to land some top targets.
What does the team’s cap space look like heading into next offseason?
Denver Broncos 2023 cap space situation
According to spotrac.com and Overthecap.com, the Broncos are set to have roughly $13 million in cap space in 2023. Both sites list different numbers; Spotrac is over $13 million by a hair and Overthecap is under $13 million by a hair. So I think $13 million is a safe bet.
That isn’t a lot, but the team can create a bunch more.
Let’s begin!
One of the most obvious candidates to be cut outright is Graham Glasgow. He has filled in rather well at center but given the projected cap savings, the Broncos might take this route. According to Overthecap, if the Broncos were to cut Glasgow in 2023, they would save $11 million while taking on a cap hit of $3 million.
An $11 million in cap savings nearly doubles their cap space to around $24 million so far.
Brandon McManus is next, and his field goal percentage this year is the lowest it’s been since 2017. He simply is not making kicks with as much frequency and for some reason is considered one of the better kickers in the NFL. He’s average at best and the Broncos can save $3.75 million by designating him as a post-June 1st cut in 2023.
Denver could sign a kicker or two in free agency or even pick one in the draft and save some money here. Cutting McManus would bring the Broncos’ cap space up to $27.75 million in 2023. The next candidate is Garett Bolles.
There have been some very small rumblings about Bolles not being on the Broncos in 2023, and Benjamin Allbright kind of hinted at that in a tweet a while ago. Bolles is a candidate to be restructured, traded, or cut.
He hasn’t been able to hit his Pro Bowl level 2020 play but he’s been serviceable. Calvin Anderson could also be the left tackle in 2023. My guess right now is that the Broncos end up trading Garett Bolles.
Doing that will save the Broncos $14 million in cap space. The same amount is saved by cutting him post-June 1st as well. That is a ton of savings and would bring the Broncos’ cap space total in 2023 to around $41.75 million.
The next player who could be up for something is Tim Patrick, who tore his ACL in the offseason. He’ll be entering his age-30 season next year and a restructure could save the team $3.46 million, bringing the team’s cap space to $45.21 million.
The team can also cut Chase Edmonds and save another $6 million, bringing their total to $51.21 million. The team could do a bit more, but they can easily get themselves to roughly $50 million in cap space.
3 free agent QBs the Broncos should consider to push Russell Wilson in 2023
The Denver Broncos need to add to the quarterback room in the 2023 offseason to push Russell Wilson. Which free agents could be considered?
They would lose Graham Glasgow, Brandon McManus, Garett Bolles, and Chase Edmonds, hardly huge losses in my opinion.