The Denver Broncos were modest spenders in free agency this offseason, and their plan in doing so seems deliberate, as their projected 2025 cap space is quite high. The Broncos made the bold move to cut Russell Wilson earlier this offseason and are actually paying him nearly $40 million in 2024 to not be on the team.
Denver won't have to pay him in 2025 but will have a $32 million dead cap charge. However, it seemed as if many people thought that Russell Wilson's contract situation was going to severely cap-strap the Broncos for years to come, and that could not be more wrong. Denver clearly operated more modestly this offseason, and for good reason.
To the surprise of some, they did have a good bit of money to spend in free agency, but it's clear that the Broncos made that cap space to better manage Wilson's dead cap charges, which total $85 million. Well, after 2025, his contract will be totally off the books, and the Broncos projected cap space next offseason is quite large.
According to Over The Cap, the Broncos are set to have over $88 million in cap space in 2025. That number would rank 10th in the NFL. OTC pegs the 2025 salary cap at $260 million. Right now, the salary cap figure for 2024 is $255.4 million, which was a surprisingly high jump from 2023. So, it's likely that the salary cap would be a good bit higher than $260 million in 2025.
Furthermore, this doesn't consider any contract extensions or restructures the Broncos could do to save even more cap space. It's not out of the question for the Broncos to have over $100 million entering free agency next year. This could also be coupled with Denver having a QB on a rookie contract as well. If the Broncos draft a rookie QB in the 2024 NFL Draft and he plays well enough to stick with the team as the starter in 2025, Denver could look to maximize that potential window opening.
The Broncos could quickly become a dangerous team in 2025.