The Denver Broncos made a huge splash in 2025 free agency when they signed linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who was expected to be the missing piece of an already elite defense.
Unfortunately, things didn't go the way the Broncos -- or Greenlaw -- would have hoped. In fact, quite the opposite. After one injury-plagued season in Denver, Greenlaw was cut by the Broncos with a post-June 1 designation, and he almost immediately signed back with his old team, the San Francisco 49ers.
The post-June 1 designation when cutting Greenlaw initially meant that the Broncos would be able to split up his dead cap hit between 2026 and 2027, giving them the maximum salary cap savings for 2026. Now that it's finally June, the Broncos finally have that salary cap space available.
Denver Broncos finally get cap relief after cutting LB Dre Greenlaw back in March
Greenlaw will count roughly $2.17 million against the Broncos' salary cap this year as a dead cap charge, but the team is now adding about $6 million to their 2026 salary cap figure, bumping them into the upper half of the league with over $26.3 million in total cap space.
It's a small consolation prize after the risky decision to invest in Greenlaw didn't work out in the first place. Greenlaw missed most of last year's offseason program with an injury that ended up lingering into training camp, where he aggravated it, and then missed a bunch of time in the regular season.
We didn't even see Greenlaw on the field for the Broncos in a game until Week 7 against the New York Giants. Then after the win, he was promptly suspended for a game after a postgame interaction with an official. Including the playoffs, Greenlaw played just 10 games for the Broncos and was limited in his snap counts even when he was available.
But that wasn't due strictly to injuries, either. Greenlaw was struggling to pick up Vance Joseph's defense, which he compared to learning Spanish after the season finally ended.
Maybe more than anything, Greenlaw's premature departure has caused the Broncos to have to really reshuffle their roster construction at linebacker. They brought back both Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad this offseason, and those guys will start in 2026. Beyond those two guys, there is no proven depth on this team whatsoever.
Jonah Elliss is going to get reps at linebacker during the offseason program to see if he can make the same transition as his brother Kaden and another former Sean Payton draft pick, Zack Baun.
But even with an optimistic view of that situation, the fact that Greenlaw didn't work out as a big-money signing looms pretty large for this Broncos team. They are just one injury away from being in a position where we could see someone like rookie Red Murdock or undrafted free agent Taurean York actually playing meaningful snaps on one of the best defenses in the NFL.
As nice as it is to finally have the additional cap space, Greenlaw's deal officially coming off the books is also a reminder of the dangers of free agency, and the ripple effects those decisions can have year over year.
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