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Talented and controversial LB D.J. Williams has been given his walking papers today. It had been reported a few weeks ago the Broncos were going to look to trade or release him. After outlining that the Broncos would not be able to recoup any draft picks last week because quite frankly they had no leverage, it was clear it would only be a matter of time before he would be released.
Here's some of his career highlights and lowlights:
- 127 games, 115 starts, 20.5 sacks, 2 INT's, 628 tackles
- DUI (2005) DWI (2010), 6 game suspension (extended to 9) in 2012 for fake urine/DWI
For what it's worth DJ punched his own ticket out of town. His suspension opened the door for Wesley Woodyard who had a breakout season. When DJ returned he split time in a support role with Danny Trevathan and Keith Brooking. Quite frankly, he was no longer worth his 6 million base salary. The Broncos will save that 6 million in cap space and will have 1.832 million of dead money from the move.
Caleb Hanie on the other hand was brought in as an insurance policy for Manning (there is no plan B haha). Realistically, until Osweiler made strides as a backup he was there in case Manning went down early on. Manning stayed strong, didn't take a lot of hits, and Hanie made a million and change sitting inactive on the bench for most of the season. In my opinion, the Broncos have no reason to carry more than two quarterbacks during the season. For camp, if they want to bring a few guys in then fine. But we have no reason to believe Manning will suffer an injury or that Oz can't step in and be prepared in case that happens. Hanie will leave 125 K in dead money on the cap but will save the Broncos an additional 1.25 million.
According to spotrac, which now has included the Clady tag number, DJ release our cap number stands at 112.27 million. With Hanie gone, that number is 111.02 which means the Broncos have about 12 million in free space as of right now. There will still be moves to come Broncos Country and we'll be around to cover them, cheers!