The Denver Broncos recently gave star cornerback Pat Surtain II a $5 million pay raise for 2026 out of absolutely nowhere, an unprecedented move to reward one of the team's top performers and culture carriers.
As it turns out, that move was of the "I scratch your back, you scratch mine," variety.
Not only did Surtain get a $5 million raise for 2026, but he also got another $5 million next season if he can make it to the Pro Bowl or All-Pro teams. It feels like the Broncos effectively handed Surtain an extra $10 million, just as an attaboy. But the Broncos are benefiting from it as well.
According to Parker Gabriel, the Broncos actually freed up another $4 million in salary cap space for 2026 by giving Surtain the raise. After his salary adjustment for this season, the Broncos' cap space has gone up once again, and is shockingly now the 8th-most cap space of any team in the league.
Denver Broncos cap space leapfrogs up to 8th-most after Pat Surtain got a raise
With the dust all settled from Surtain getting his raise and the team also getting Dre Greenlaw's contract off the books earlier in June, they've added at least $10 million in cap space, putting them at $29.79 million, according to OverTheCap.com.
The Broncos not only have the 8th-most salary cap space in the league right now, but they also rank 2nd in the league (behind Seattle) with the least amount of dead money ($3.41 million).
They've come a long way from having the most dead money in league history for a single player after they cut Russell Wilson in the 2024 offseason. It's a huge testament to the contracts being put together by Broncos GM George Paton and cap guru Rich Hurtado, who is more of an asset behind the scenes than anyone truly realizes.
Ultimately, what does the team want to do with that salary cap space? It's really anyone's guess, but it could be to carry over at the end of the season. The Broncos have a full roster right now, and while they absolutely have ultimate flexibility to make any move they need/want to with that amount of cap space, they also have a number of players entering contract years with the team whose situations will have to be addressed over the course of the next 9 months.
Players like Riley Moss, Marvin Mims, Brandon Jones, Ben Powers, Evan Engram, and Ja'Quan McMillian are all scheduled to be free agents after the 2026 season. And while the Broncos certainly won't keep all of those guys, it'll cost them a decent amount to even keep some of them.
Having a lot of cap space now helps with that, along with the NFL salary cap always increasing, seemingly at an exponential rate.
Regardless of what they intend to do with that cap space, the fact of the matter is, Surtain's raise has given the team another boost -- an unexpected one, at that -- in a key area.
Add us as a preferred source on Google