The Denver Broncos have $38.76 million in projected cap space to attack the upcoming offseason with, the seventh-most in the NFL.

As a result, they’ll be able to make some aggressive moves to attempt to return the franchise to contention. With plenty of holes on the roster that need filling, the Broncos could turn to some of the talent preparing to play in the upcoming Super Bowl.

What players could they hypothetically target? Let’s look.

B.J. Hill, IDL, Bengals

A position of need for the Broncos that doesn’t get discussed nearly enough is their need along the interior of the defensive line.

Shelby Harris will likely be gone this offseason, and even if he returns, he took a notable step back this season in terms of on-field play. Mike Purcell also took a step back in 2021, and while that might’ve been the result of injury, he’ll be 31 next year and a return to elite run-stuffing form shouldn’t just be expected.

That leaves the Broncos with little else on the defensive line besides their elite interior-rusher, Dre’Mont Jones. Shamar Stephen was a free agent bust. McTelvin Agim flashed at points last year, but was often a healthy scratch and has been a disappointment relative to what Denver invested in him. Meanwhile, Jonathan Kongbo, Jonathan Harris, Justin Hamilton and Marquiss Spencer can’t be relied on to replace Harris or Purcell.

The Broncos will have to add help to their defensive line, especially as far as defending the run is concerned, this off-season.

Enter B.J. Hill.

D.J. Reader has gotten most of the praise for stifling the run down by the Ohio River, but the team’s second-best run-defender along the defensive line has been B.J. Hill. The scheme transition might be a little awkward, but Hill should still fit in Denver’s defense and could be an excellent, cheap option to provide some run-defense insurance as the Broncos look to rebuild in the defensive trenches.

Unfortunately for Broncos Country, the Bengals have a ton of projected cap space this offseason, and few expensive or important free agents coming due. If they don’t want Hill to hit the market, he probably won’t.

Darious Williams, CB, Rams

Yes, the Broncos invested heavily in the secondary last year, but the team is still looking at having a pretty big hole in nickel and dime looks — which dominate the modern NFL — as they don’t have a true slot-corner locked up moving forward.

The Broncos had six players play a combined 530 snaps in the slot this season. Of those 530 snaps, 512 (96.6%) are set to hit unrestricted free agency. Plus, of those remaining 18 snaps, Patrick Surtain II was responsible for 10, and you’d assume the team would want to keep him outside next year.

Even if you somehow believe in Ronald Darby, Michael Ojemudia, or someone else on the roster helping to fill that void, the Broncos will still have to add talent at the position, considering the frequency at which modern defenses have four cornerbacks on the field, and the ever-present reality of injuries.

Darious Williams has been one of the league’s better slot cornerbacks over the past two seasons and is very familiar with Ejiro Evero, who is expected to get the Broncos’ defensive coordinator job. Plus, with the change from Brandon Staley to Raheem Morris, Darious Williams was forced to play outside more and showed he was able to hold up well there too, even though he’s best utilized inside, where his quick-twitch and coverage instincts can shine.

The Rams are also set to be $13.7 million over the 2022 salary cap (fifth-worst in the league). The salary cap is almost always something you can manipulate, but it should be difficult for the Rams to manipulate to the extent they’ll have to do keep all their stars, meaning the Broncos should have a shot at targetting these players.

Von Miller, Edge, Rams

The inclusion of Von Miller, a member of the Broncos’ Mount Rushmore, on this list should surprise no one.

First, there are all the sentimental factors involved with wanting to bring such a prolific franchise legend back for one last Super Bowl run with a superstar veteran quarterback addition. That’s undeniably appealing to Broncos Country.

Arguably more important though, is the on-field aspect. The Broncos have a major need at edge rusher — it’s probably the team’s biggest need outside cornerback — and Miller has proven how much he has left in the tank this postseason.

During this postseason, Miller has been Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded pass-rusher at any position. He also is tied with Aaron Donald for the lead in postseason pressures with 16. Prior to this past week’s game — where he was matched up against Trent Williams, the best tackle in football — Miller also led the postseason in pressures per game. Now at 5.33 pressures per game, Miller is tied for fourth in the league, and the only defenders ranked ahead of him appeared in just one postseason game.

Sure, he’s not the perennial first-team All-Pro that he was in his prime, but he can still impact the game at a high level, and he’d be an excellent addition to the Broncos’ stable of rotational edge rushers they’ve begun to accumulate. Miller wouldn’t be the only edge the team would add this offseason, and with those other additions at the position, Denver might be able to minimize what they’d be asking from Miller, maximizing what they’d get from him at this point in his career.

The move would make a lot of sense for Denver, but the deal-breaker is it might not make much sense for Miller. The close ties to the Broncos still exist to some extent, and his family and newborn son continue to reside in Denver, which is certainly a draw, but Miller has now made multiple public comments about wanting to re-sign in Los Angeles. Now, that might’ve just been lip service, but many of them came unprompted.

That said, the Rams have their aforementioned issues with the salary cap, which might prevent them from being able to afford Miller.