Denver Broncos free agent cap hits in 2025 will make your jaw drop

During the Scouting Combine, Denver Broncos general manager George Paton made a point to say that there are a variety of ways you can manipulate the salary cap in today's NFL on an as-needed basis. While Paton has stated repeatedly that the Broncos would be "measured' in their NFL Free Agency approach, it's clear that the team was also very targeted.

And to be fair, they made some big, bold moves.

The Broncos re-signed defensive lineman DJ Jones and added out-of-house free agents like Evan Engram, Talanoa Hufanga, and Dre Greenlaw. All four of those players signed contracts worth at least $10.5 million in average annual salary, and the majority of them more than that.

Despite the fact that the Broncos signed their top free agents to deals worth eight figures in average annual salary, they managed to make mind-boggling adjustments to the contracts to limit year-one cap hits significantly.

Broncos get entire free agency class signed for bargain on 2025 salary cap

As you see in the post from Zac Stevens of DNVR, the cap hits of the new big contracts signed by Broncos free agents in 2025 adds up to just $24.16 million. How are teams like the Broncos able to do this with contracts that are worth eight figures annually? The answer is guaranteed money and void years on each deal.

For example, Talanoa Hufanga's contract has a whopping five void years added onto it. That is money the Broncos have already paid, but they will not have to account for all of it on the salary cap until 2032. And by that point, the $2.948 million opton bonus that's being spread out year over year is going to count an insignificant percentage against the salary cap. Hufanga's cap hit of $3.411 million this year already makes up just 1.2 percent of the salary cap. Imagine how much lower that will be in three years.

Void years on contracts are the way of things now in the NFL and how some of the best teams in the league are manipulating the cap. Folks like to point at the New Orleans Saints as a massive negative when it comes to the void years they've added to the salary cap, but teams like the Chiefs and Eagles -- who just represented each conference in the Super Bowl -- are doing it as well.

The Broncos are doing the smart thing by kicking that can down the road, and the way they were able to load up this year's free agent class without having to make a single cut or restructure is impressive.

And we could still see the Broncos make moves to re-sign their own players which would free up even more salary cap space. As of the time of this post being written, Denver is slated to have over $17 million in salary cap space and under $3.2 million is needed to get the entire 2025 NFL Draft class under contract.

We should continue to see even more activity from this Broncos team in free agency, even if the moves they make aren't of the "blockbuster" variety.