5 best cap-clearing moves that Broncos can make before free agency begins
Team needs to make a big decision regarding one of the top two WRs
Releasing a fan favorite
Just about one month after Super Bowl LVIII, the NFL free-agent signing period will begin and teams around the league will be racing to make the biggest moves that they can in order to improve their rosters.
The Denver Broncos will be no exception, but the team currently has a bit of a salary cap issue and needs to clear some space or signings are going to be tough to make. The salary cap can be a tricky thing to deal with, but there are always moves that can be made to navigate through it and come up with some more money to spend.
Spotrac offers several tools to help football fans understand how the cap works and have an idea of how much money their team has to spend. Here, the website even offers some moves that the Broncos can make in order to free up some salary cap space.
Keeping those things in mind, here are the five best ways the Broncos can take their salary cap (currently projected to be at -$23.9 million) and turn it back into the positive, allowing them to make some moves this offseason.
Release Tim Patrick
Move would free up $9.5 million in cap space
Though Tim Patrick is a popular player within the fanbase, this is an easy decision. He hasn't played a single down for two full seasons due to injuries and he's set to make too much money in 2024.
It will be tough for the team to release Patrick because when he has been on the field, he's been a reliable target in the passing game. But the team can't justify his $15.5 million cap number this coming season when he hasn't played in a game since 2021.
If the Broncos release Patrick and he is unable to find another team willing to give him the kind of deal he is looking for, he could always come back to Denver on a new deal, one that is more salary-cap friendly.