If you listen closely, you can hear the cha-ching coming from the NFL corporate offices. As frustrating as it can be for the general fan population to have to pay for subscriptions to YouTube TV, Peacock, Amazon, Paramount, ESPN+, and others just to watch games, you can almost view it as a small investment in your favorite team being able to have a more aggressive offseason plan of attack.
The NFL informed clubs that the salary cap will be between (roughly) $277-281 million this offseason, an astronomical hike for all 32 teams from the roughly $255 million this past year. Over the last two offseasons, the NFL salary cap has spiked by about $53 million, which just so happens to be the exact number of the big dead cap chunk they had from Russell Wilson's contract in 2024.
But that's neither here nor there. The NFL's slightly unexpected salary cap increase for 2025 puts the Broncos at $41.77 million in salary cap space according to Over The Cap. Previously, they were at around $34 million in total cap space.
NFL salary cap reset puts Broncos in very favorable position ahead of NFL Free Agency
There are plenty of teams with more cap space than the Denver Broncos, but that's not the point. The Broncos have the most cash-rich ownership group in the NFL and major flexibility on the salary cap. Combine that with the emergence of Bo Nix, the presence of head coach Sean Payton, the new training facility in progress, the training staff keeping guys on the field, and many more recruiting tools, and the salary cap being increased is merely icing on the cake.
It's a necessary "evil", if you will, to the Broncos being on an even playing field with teams who have a ton of cap space. Having a lot of cap space is great, but being a team players want to go to with cash on hand is even more important. You have to have cap space to be able to truly put those benefits into effect.
With $32 million in dead money leftover from the Russell Wilson deal, the Broncos are still dealing with a large chunk of the salary cap being devoted to a player who is not in Denver this year. With that being said, the team obviously can compensate for that with the way they structure deals. There is no dead money on the books for 2026, another absolutely massive advantage for general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton as they structure contracts with the future in mind.
There will be some splashes made by the Broncos in 2025 NFL Free Agency. George Paton said in January that the team would be "measured" but that they can be as aggressive as they need to be. Without knowing everyone that's going to get cut, I think we can expect the Broncos to sign starters at linebacker and safety in free agency and we'll see about the offensive weapon department.