2020 was a crazy year for many reasons, foremost, the global pandemic.
And thankfully, the National Football League was there to distract us all for a few hours every Sunday, as every game took place in 2020 with or without the pandemic raging.
However, the lack of fans — completely in most cases, but other stadiums with few fans — impacted the NFL in a big way in terms of revenue. In fact, according to Sportico and Leigh Steinberg, the league was predicted to lose $5.5 billion in 2020.
Those losses meant a big-time reduction in the salary cap, which hurts players individually and hurts teams who are trying to build winners. The cap dropped 8 percent to $182.5 million for 2021 after growing every year. From 2019-2020, the cap increased from $188 million to $198M, and grew 6.23 percent from 2018-20, but now falls to a mere $182.5M.
Luckily for the Broncos, as they currently sit, they have the 9th-most to spend among all teams, with $32.66M per Spotrac and Over The Cap. And that number could balloon to nearly $56M if the Broncos move away from Von Miller and Kareem Jackson, though, that seems somewhat unlikely. More likely is cutting Jackson ($2.8M dead cap) and restructuring Miller’s contract to something more digestible than a $22.2M cap hit.
They could also save money by cutting tight end Nick Vannett, who was a disappointment as a newcomer last year, as well as backup quarterback Jeff Driskel. Driskel’s services won’t be needed because the Broncos look to bring in a quarterback to provide competition to Lock, but letting go of Vannett and Driskel would save Paton $5.25 million.
Outside of that QB competition, Denver needs a cornerback, possibly another defensive lineman or two, and if they let go of Jackson, a strong safety. But, don’t expect the orange and blue to be big-time spenders in the free agency market this offseason.
As far as their own guys are concerned, the Broncos are expected to bring back Tim Patrick, Phillip Lindsay and Alexander Johnson, and Paton explained to the media last week they will be tendered. Although, it’s not been made clear what round tenders will be placed on each one.
Then, there are unrestricted free agents like Shelby Harris — whom Paton said is a priority to keep in a Broncos jersey — Jeremiah Attaoachu, Will Parks, DeMarcus Walker and Elijah Wilkinson among others the team could re-sign.
In all likelihood, we’ll be seeing a team quite similar to last year’s group taking the field in 2021. As it currently sits, Drew Lock is expected to be the quarterback unless Paton can somehow pull off a blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson, whom the Texans still say they’re not trading.
Lock’s efforts will be bolstered by the return of Courtland Sutton from injury while most of that group will stay the same. Defensively, things will change a bit, but we’ve seen Vic Fangio make the most out of what he has to work with for the first two years as the team’s head coach.
Simply, the Broncos have a lot of money to work with, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be making headline-stealing signings. Still, there are a lot of moving pieces, so stay tuned to the start of free agency which kicks off on Wed. March 17.