The Broncos have a lot of cap room

[Miked383]

I saw this morning that the cap is now projected to be $130 million, instead of $126 million.

From what I have seen the top 51 cap number is $117.5 million. We have $6 million in rollover from last year which gives us $18.5 million. Now I would project that Champ is either cut or resigns for $3 million or so, can save $4 million by cutting Kuper, and another $2.5 by releasing Dreessen. If these moves are taken that would give us $32-35 million in cap space.

My wish list:
1. Resign DRC
2. Resign Phillips if we can't improve DE
3. Anquan Boldin
4. Donte Whitner
5. Jared Allen

 

[WalkerBoh]

I saw this morning that the cap is now projected to be $130 million, instead of $126 million.

From what I have seen the top 51 cap number is $117.5 million. We have $6 million in rollover from last year which gives us $18.5 million. Now I would project that Champ is either cut or resigns for $3 million or so, can save $4 million by cutting Kuper, and another $2.5 by releasing Dreessen. If these moves are taken that would give us $32-35 million in cap space.

My wish list:
1. Resign DRC
2. Resign Phillips if we can't improve DE
3. Anquan Boldin
4. Donte Whitner
5. Jared Allen

According to SporTrac, we also have $4 MM on the books as dead money. So currently our Salary cap (including rollover) sits at $14.9 MM. However, $2.1 MM of that dead money is linked to DRC, which means that would not factor in if we resign him to a longer deal. It would simply count as part of his cap number.

But with other cuts and savings, we could definitely still be around $30 MM.

Bad news is that Oakland has $64.5 MM of cap space this season

 

[cdumler7]

This is Oakland we are talking about though. They will find a way to blow through that with mediocre players.


We definitely have some major wiggle room to get some things done this year if the Cap is as high as they are talking. Even without it we would still have some wiggle room. Should be able to in my estimation beyond just our own FA possibly bring in 1-2 other starters again this year.

 

[WalkerBoh]

This is Oakland we are talking about though. They will find a way to blow through that with mediocre players.


We definitely have some major wiggle room to get some things done this year if the Cap is as high as they are talking. Even without it we would still have some wiggle room. Should be able to in my estimation beyond just our own FA possibly bring in 1-2 other starters again this year.

The latest estimate has pretty high confidence though. High enough confidence for SporTrac to list it as the cap number, so I'd be very surprised if the final number is significantly different from $130 MM.

 

[BigKen]

Too often opponents of a team, underestimate that team. If the Raiders have $64.5 M cap space, I expect them to go after the best players available, If they can get Bouldin for $10M, they'll make the offer and they may also offer Decker $10M. Pick a few OL and DL for $5-$6M each and draft a top notch QB or trade for one at the draft and all of sudden they're not a doormat anymore.

The Broncos are not going to have a cupcake schedule this year. If they expect to get back to the AFC Championship and the Superbowl, they need to address more than a WR.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Too often opponents of a team, underestimate that team. If the Raiders have $64.5 M cap space, I expect them to go after the best players available, If they can get Bouldin for $10M, they'll make the offer and they may also offer Decker $10M. Pick a few OL and DL for $5-$6M each and draft a top notch QB or trade for one at the draft and all of sudden they're not a doormat anymore.

The Broncos are not going to have a cupcake schedule this year. If they expect to get back to the AFC Championship and the Superbowl, they need to address more than a WR.

So? The schedule will be the same for the rest of the AFC West, and Denver will still be the favorite to win their division. But some of the same could be said about NE too. They get that same AFC West on their schedules, which include 3 playoff teams. They get Green Bay and Chicago too, which won't be pushovers. Then you have finally some decent competition in the AFC East. Patriots also have a LOT more to address than just WR if they expect to do much in the playoffs in 2014. Brady's time is also limited.

As for the Raiders, the cap space is a lot, and they can do a lot to improve their team. However, this is also the same team who gave up draft picks and paid $6.3 MM guaranteed to Matt Flynn. So, it remains to be seen if Oakland is capable of using their cap space properly. Historically that hasn't been the case.

 

[Miked383]

Too often opponents of a team, underestimate that team. If the Raiders have $64.5 M cap space, I expect them to go after the best players available, If they can get Bouldin for $10M, they'll make the offer and they may also offer Decker $10M. Pick a few OL and DL for $5-$6M each and draft a top notch QB or trade for one at the draft and all of sudden they're not a doormat anymore.

The Broncos are not going to have a cupcake schedule this year. If they expect to get back to the AFC Championship and the Superbowl, they need to address more than a WR.

I think we all understand that, we are also aware the Broncos will be getting 2 All Pro caliber players in Clady and Von, Chris Harris, Rahim Moore and Kevin Vickerson. Those are some very good starters that we didn't have in the the playoffs. Still work to do but they have a lot of good pieces in place with a lot of cap room to play with. The Broncos do have a very tough schedule though.

 

[BigKen]

So? The schedule will be the same for the rest of the AFC West, and Denver will still be the favorite to win their division. But some of the same could be said about NE too. They get that same AFC West on their schedules, which include 3 playoff teams. They get Green Bay and Chicago too, which won't be pushovers. Then you have finally some decent competition in the AFC East. Patriots also have a LOT more to address than just WR if they expect to do much in the playoffs in 2014. Brady's time is also limited.

As for the Raiders, the cap space is a lot, and they can do a lot to improve their team. However, this is also the same team who gave up draft picks and paid $6.3 MM guaranteed to Matt Flynn. So, it remains to be seen if Oakland is capable of using their cap space properly. Historically that hasn't been the case.

How did the Patriots get into this conversation? Did I say anything regarding the Patriots cap position or the Patriots schedule? I didn't say anything derogatory about the Broncos, I just said that they need more than a WR and that they will not have a cupcake schedule. I did mention the Raiders because too often people just assume that because of a history of bad moves (AL Davis) that the present management will fall into the exact same methodology.

The original note in this thread made a reference to Anquan Boldan and from my point of view, he is not what the Broncos need. I'm not going to get into how poorly the Superbowl went for the Broncos, I believe that John Elway has a much better idea than I do.

One final thing Walkerboh, The Broncos are coming back to Foxboro for a rematch with the Patriots. Hopefully all of the hurt Broncos and hurt Patriots have healed and will be playing. Then you can start smack talkin' all you want. Until then calm down, the season doesn't start for another 198 days.

 

[cdumler7]

Too often opponents of a team, underestimate that team. If the Raiders have $64.5 M cap space, I expect them to go after the best players available, If they can get Bouldin for $10M, they'll make the offer and they may also offer Decker $10M. Pick a few OL and DL for $5-$6M each and draft a top notch QB or trade for one at the draft and all of sudden they're not a doormat anymore.

The Broncos are not going to have a cupcake schedule this year. If they expect to get back to the AFC Championship and the Superbowl, they need to address more than a WR.

No Duh! is the term that comes to mind that we need more than just a receiver. Did you read past the signing of Boldin? The person also had us signing Jared Allen (addresses the lack of pass rush other than Von on the team) and Whitner (addresses our lack of a SS plus gives us a big time hitter that should put at least a little fear in some receivers coming across the middle).

Yes Oakland could use their Cap Space wisely. I was mostly just joking around at the expense of a division opponent who has been a bottom feeder for quite some time now. They do seem to have a little better management at this time than they did with Al Davis over the last 10 years of his life. Sheesh lighten up a bit just having some fun with all of this.

Now with us having all the Cap Space we do it does allow the Broncos to actually bring in more than just aging veterans on the downhill of their career or just depth guys. The Cap space gives the Broncos a chance to resign some of their own talent (DRC, Harris, and maybe one of Beadles or Decker) plus bring in some young talent that could be a long term solution such as Whitner (only 28) or say TJ Ward (my personal favorite FA) or even one of the top pass rushers in FA like Johnson, Houston, or Allen.

Throw in the players the Broncos are getting back from injury totaled 7 starters on our roster so essentially the Broncos could get 9-10 new starters this year that were not on the Super Bowl Roster.

 

[Miked383]

I think the biggest area for the Broncos to address in free agency is toughness, mainly on the defensive side of the ball. The main reason for my choices of Boldin, Whitner and Allen. They are not guys that will demand top dollar, but won't come cheap either. Under Elway, outside of Manning they haven't shown that they are willing to give top dollar contracts to free agents.

I could see us taking a Guard in the draft, there are some good options Su'a-Filo from UCLA in round 1 and Gabe Jackson or Cyril Richardson http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/1664298/xavier-sua-filoin the second.

A lot of the draft depends on what happens in FA, we need OG, WR, S, CB, MLB, DE. Drafting late means we will likely only get 1 or 2 first year starters in the draft so FA is really important with some of the guys we're losing.

 

[WalkerBoh]

How did the Patriots get into this conversation? Did I say anything regarding the Patriots cap position or the Patriots schedule? I didn't say anything derogatory about the Broncos, I just said that they need more than a WR and that they will not have a cupcake schedule. I did mention the Raiders because too often people just assume that because of a history of bad moves (AL Davis) that the present management will fall into the exact same methodology.

The original note in this thread made a reference to Anquan Boldan and from my point of view, he is not what the Broncos need. I'm not going to get into how poorly the Superbowl went for the Broncos, I believe that John Elway has a much better idea than I do.

One final thing Walkerboh, The Broncos are coming back to Foxboro for a rematch with the Patriots. Hopefully all of the hurt Broncos and hurt Patriots have healed and will be playing. Then you can start smack talkin' all you want. Until then calm down, the season doesn't start for another 198 days.

Oh, I'm sure Denver will be more than ready for that rematch. I doubt NE gets the benefit of having as many gifts as they enjoyed in the second half of the regular season game.

As for the Patriots coming into this conversation, well you ARE a Pats fan, are you not? While it may not have been your intent, your comments about Denver came off as aloof at the least. And if you've been following the conversations here (which you obviously have not), you'd know that most of us Denver fans have a pretty good idea on what the Broncos need, and it IS more than just replacing a WR. That's just where this thread happened to address. So perhaps you could have worded your remarks on that a bit better, eh? In the meantime, I simply returned the favor, so to speak.

As for the Raiders, yes, I know that past history doesn't dictate future results, and many of the Raiders' bad moves came because of Al Davis. However, it was their CURRENT FO that brought in Matt Flynn, just for an example. So the jury is still out on whether the new regime can properly manage their cap and build a real team. Some of their recent moves leave little to be desired so far.

 

[randymon]

I think the biggest area for the Broncos to address in free agency is toughness, mainly on the defensive side of the ball. The main reason for my choices of Boldin, Whitner and Allen. They are not guys that will demand top dollar, but won't come cheap either. Under Elway, outside of Manning they haven't shown that they are willing to give top dollar contracts to free agents.

I could see us taking a Guard in the draft, there are some good options Su'a-Filo from UCLA in round 1 and Gabe Jackson or Cyril Richardson in the second.

A lot of the draft depends on what happens in FA, we need OG, WR, S, CB, MLB, DE. Drafting late means we will likely only get 1 or 2 first year starters in the draft so FA is really important with some of the guys we're losing.

Depending on what Denver addresses in FA I would not be surprised if the do look at G/T in first rd either. Even without Clady, they still have some problems there. Then lets see if we can help with some pressure on D side and not hang their hats on a healthy Wolfe,Miller and youngsters like Smith to be a "given" answer either. I hope every pks 1-7 = O-line, D-line, Lb and wr.