The Denver Broncos are already going to be armed with somewhere between $25-30 million in salary cap space before the 2026 offseason frenzy even begins, but they won't just settle for what they've got.
The Broncos have the luxury of having both the most cash-rich owners in the NFL and a quarterback on a rookie contract. This is a window they must capitalize on, and in fact, they've already been doing that.
This is a front office that has been seemingly handing out one big contract extension after another, most of which have been for players on the offensive and defensive lines. And the way those deals are structured, a few simple restructures of contracts could end up freeing up over $29 million in additional cap space for GM George Paton and head coach Sean Payton to play around with.
Broncos could free up over $29 million in additional cap space by restructuring contracts
The Broncos could very well still end up cutting a number of players from the current roster. There are more notable players with no more guaranteed salary than you might think, especially given the way this roster has been constructed in recent years.
But players with non-guaranteed salary for the upcoming season (and beyond) are typically the players you are going to look at for one of two things:
A restructured contract or a salary cap casualty.
Right now, offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey is set to have the biggest cap hit on the team at a whopping $23.775 million. This was a day the Broncos knew would eventually come when they signed McGlinchey all the way back in 2023 at this point.
McGlinchey has no guaranteed money left on his deal, which makes him a prime candidate for a contract extension or restructure over the final two years, perhaps even adding some void years to the deal depending on what both sides want to do. Using OverTheCap's roster building tool, the Broncos could turn a significant chunk of McGlinchey's base salary into guaranteed money, all the while adding $10.46 million in cap space.
They could also free up some significant space by turning some of Quinn Meinerz's base salary into a bonus. His restructure would save the Broncos over $11.73 million in cap space this offseason in this scenario.
Another candidate is left guard Ben Powers, who is a free agent after the 2026 season. He might be a stronger candidate for an extension than a restructure, but he already has void years built into his deal. Another restructure with Powers could add another $7.46 million to the Broncos' cap total.
All together, those three guys alone could add nearly $30 million ($29.65 million) to the Broncos' salary cap total, doubling their projected $28 million. That would give them the ultimate flexibility to reload the roster with both short-term deals and long-term deals. It's not always the big-money contracts that require the salary cap space, but sometimes those short-term deals.
That is what could end up being the ultimate motivating factor for the Broncos taking some of these recent offensive line contracts (or defensive line, too) and throwing cash at the players while kicking the can down the road as the salary cap continues to skyrocket over $300 million in the NFL.