FanPost

2017 Salary Information

Emmanuel_Sanders_2014.0.JPGAfter Von's signing, I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out whether or not we could afford Sanders next year. I just got tired of flipping through Spotrac and Over the Cap, so I decided I should put all of the information I want on one page. Just in case anybody else is interested, I'm posting it here.

Cap Space

Next season the Broncos are set to have $26.5m in cap space. Spotrac is including 54 salaries in this number instead of 51, so we can add another $1.5m, plus about $11m due to the increase in the salary cap. That leaves us with $39m in cap space. About $7m will need to be set aside for draft picks. So we'll call it $32m in space. Since only the top 51 contracts count against the cap, every player added will replace the lowest salary on the roster. There are 25 players projected to have a cap hit of $500k next season, so every player we sign will have his cap hit reduced by this amount.

Contracts Expiring

UFA's

36 players have contracts that will expire after this season. It is tough to guess what each player will be worth but I'm going to do my best.

DeMarcus Ware ($6-8m)- Ware has a cap hit of $8m for the 2016 season. He's 33 and its fairly likely he will retire after this season, but if he does come back it will probably be for about $6-8m.

Emmanuel Sanders ($9-12m)- Sanders is 29 and says he wants to stay with the Broncos, hopefully he is willing to take less than he'd make on the open market to keep playing with Denver.

Mark Sanchez (?)- Sanchez has a cap hit of $4m this year, but with a good season he could be worthy of an eight-figure contract next year. I don't think he makes the roster next year, as he will have either played himself out of our ability to pay him, or he will have not played well enough to be needed next year.

Britton Colquitt ($3.5m)- Colquitt has a cap hit of $4m this year, but it is unlikely he is a Bronco past training camp. In my opinion, he likely will have a slight decrease in pay next year.

Darian Stewart ($4.5-7m)- This is another tough one to gauge. Stewart has a cap hit of $2.5m this year. $4.5-7m would put him in the top 7-10 highest paid Free Safety's in the league. I think this is a fair range.

Sylvester Williams ($8-10m)- Sly has improved every year and if he takes a big step forward he could be paid more than this, but I think he'll likely fall in this range.

Vance Walker ($2.5-4m)- Walker has a cap hit of $2.25m this year and is 29. I think he'll likely find himself a small raise.

Ronnie Hillman ($1.5-4m)- Hillman is set to make $2m this year. With Anderson and Booker on the roster, I don't think he will make it past this year.

Jordan Norwood ($1-2.5m)- Norwood is 29 and has a cap hit of $880k. He is 50/50 to make the roster this season. Norwood will likely continue to fill slot and depth receiver roles in the future.

Kayvon Webster ($3-6m)- I don't know what Webster will be worth on the open market. He has been very good on special teams, but hasn't had many opportunities on defense. I think he's worth about $3.5m, but since he is a part of the No Fly Zone, teams may be willing to give him more.

Phil Taylor, Garrett Graham, Brandian Ross, DeVier Posey, Cyrus Gray, Dekoda Watson, Shiloh Keo (Veteran Minimum to $2m)- These players are all on the roster bubble and if they do make the team, it will likely be in depth and special teams roles. With a solid season, they could move up from the veteran minimum, but I would be surprised if any of them were worth more than $2m/ year.

RFA

Juwan Thompson ($1-2m)- Thompson is on the roster bubble. His versatility as a fullback or halfback should make him fairly valuable, although he hasn't had many opportunities during his career in Denver.

Darrion Weems (Vet. Min.)- Weems is unlikely to make the roster this year.

Brandon McManus ($1.5-2.5m)- The second round tender was $2.5m this year and should stay about the same. Nobody will be willing to give up a second round pick for McManus.

Sam Brenner ($1-2.5m)- Brenner should be a backup this year and definitely won't be worth more than $2.5m.

Todd Davis ($1-2.5m)- Davis has the potential to prove himself as a solid starter at ILB this year, however, I think it is unlikely we need to give him more than a second round tender.

Kenny Anunike ($1-2.5m)- Same as Davis, but much less likely to reach his potential. He may not even make the 53-man roster, despite the reports out of the last few training camps.

Kapri Bibbs ($1-2.5m)- If he makes the roster, he will primarily play special teams unless there are serious injury problems.

ERFA

Matt Paradis, Shaq Barrett, Bennie Fowler, James Ferentz, Casey Kreiter, Robert Myers, Jordan Taylor, Zaire Anderson, Dillon Day, Cameron Jefferson, Kyle Roberts, Manasseh Garner ($600k)- Denver can keep any of these players for one year and about $600k, but it wouldn't hurt to lock dome of them up longer.

Possibility

With our $32m in space and using the values above, this is who I would like to see us resign:

Sanders ($11m)

Williams ($9m)

Walker ($2.5m)

Webster ($4.5m)

McManus ($2m)

Brenner ($1m)

Davis ($2.5)

Paradis ($600k)

Barrett ($600k)

Fowler ($600k)

Myers ($600k)

Taylor ($600k)

Jefferson ($600k)

This would leave us about $2.5m in cap space. I'm not sure about Webster, Williams or Sanders, but I think that they are more valuable to us than comparable free agents. I would keep one of Walker and Anunike. I would prefer Anunike, as he would be cheaper, but only if he proves he could be a serviceable backup, which I think is unlikely.

Side note: In 2018, we should have about $8m plus any cap space left over from 2017 to sign: T.J. Ward, Virgil Green, Bradley Roby, Jared Crick, Cody Latimer, Michael Schofield, and Corey Nelson. Also Talib is still on the roster for $12m.

What do you think? Do you have different values for the players or would you keep other players? Remember that every player you keep is replacing a player with a salary of $500k.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.