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Jan 4, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
On Friday, the NFL informed teams of its projected 2026 salary cap range. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported that the league set a range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million, which would be a significant increase year over year. Which means the Denver Broncos will have plenty of cap space to work with come free agency.
Let’s break it down with Spotrac’s estimated $303.4 million cap space per team. They start with just $1.2 million in dead money (!) finally getting Russell Wilson’s contract off the books and have $28 million in starting cap space, which would be the 13th highest in the NFL. They will like make moves through veteran cuts or restructure type moves to free up more. The base line $28 million is a great starting point.
Some of their cap casualties could include guys like Matt Peart and maybe even Ben Powers. The latter depends on how good they feel about Alex Palczewski who happens to be heading towards unrestricted free agency. If they let him walk, then definitely take Powers off the table.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they look at Evan Engram as well despite the significant dead money hit to cap savings. Brandon Jones is another guy if they bring P.J. Locke back.
All that said, they really don’t have to do anything extreme. They could free up 10s of millions in cap space just with working existing contract structures and/or conversions. I would guess we see those types of moves too.
Under Sean Payton it seems like the salary cap management has gotten fairly complex, or maybe it just feels that way. What do you think of the Broncos salary cap situation today?
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