Sean Payton, the Denver Broncos’ new leader, could be making some significant moves to this roster, in his own vision. What five immediate actions could help the Denver Broncos take over the Kansas City Chiefs?
1. Cleaning up the Denver Broncos roster
Sean Payton, along with George Paton, will be faced with the decision of beginning a new regime. During the process, Payton will go through several phases including observing, testing, and eventually making decisions.
Foundationally, the Denver Broncos need more talent. Within the trenches, the teams need more talent. Directionally, the team needs more focus, attention to detail, and structure. This all has already begun during the film sessions Sean Payton is and has been putting in evaluating the current roster.
Some moves can be made to increase the current state of the Denver Broncos cap, which seems to be around a mere $10 million. Who and what contracts must be terminated or restructured?
Starting with immediate cuts, most of these players simply did not live up to their draft status, or their play has not reached the value of their contract. Now there are some who played well enough, that a re-structure would be great if they would accept, if not, cutting said players would be necessary.
Straight up cuts
- Lloyd Cushenberry III- Cap savings of $1.17 million
- Graham Glasgow- Cap savings of $11 million
- Chase Edmonds- Cap savings of $6 million
- Ronald Darby- Cap savings of $10 million
- Jacob Martin- Cap savings of $4 million
Cut if not re-structured
- Garrett Bolles- Could save slightly over $6.3 million with re-structure. If Bolles does not agree, a termination of his contract would free up about $10 million on the salary cap.
Contract Re-structures
- Justin Simmons– Cap savings of $6.6 million
- Courtland Sutton- Cap savings of $8.6 million
These moves alone could create anywhere from $53-57 million dollars in cap space for the Denver Broncos and would not deplete their roster. It would create a couple of reactionary moves to replace some of the players dismissed, but it could improve the overall quality of the roster.