The Denver Broncos certainly have a long list of things they might want to do this offseason, and it's all become more urgent after the Russell Wilson news broke. The Broncos need a franchise quarterback, among other things. I think the team knew what they had planned to do with Russell Wilson for weeks now, but it was only a matter of time before the news broke.
Now, Sean Payton will enter, perhaps, the most important offseason of his NFL head-coaching career, which is saying a lot. His most important item on the to-do list is to draft a QB in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Broncos should stop trying the veteran QB route and just take a chance on a guy in the draft. However, there are other items on the to-do list that the Broncos must complete now that the news of Russell Wilson's coming release is official.
1. The Broncos must free up cap space
And I don't think they should just free up enough to tread water. I think they need to free up tens of millions of dollars in cap space. I recently penned an article about how the Broncos can clear up about $50 million in cap space, and they should get to work doing that. One huge reason why they need to do this is because of their obvious hole at QB.
The Broncos should dip their toes into the free agency market to try and fill some of their needs, especially on defense. Being able to smartly fill needs in free agency could help soften the blow of having some uncertainty at QB. The Broncos' defense could use several new starters, and if the Broncos can build up a strong defense in FA, perhaps, it might make things a little bit easier.
And well, the Broncos currently have negative cap space at this moment, on the fifth of March. In the coming days, we'll likely see them free up cap space just to get compliant, but they need to create more than just some pocket change.