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With the COVID-19 opt outs wrapped up, the Denver Broncos only saw two veterans take the opt out for 2020. That left them with the fourth most salary cap space in the NFL. Field Yates of ESPN put them at $29,541,191.
Official cap space post-opt outs (1-11):
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 7, 2020
1. CLE: $40,468,180
2. NE: $33,431,135
3. WAS: $30,634,658
4. DEN: $29,541,191
5. NYJ: $29,266,652
6. TEN: $25,199,921
7. MIA: $24,650,560
8. BUF: $24,288,558
9. PHI: $23,749,246
10. DET: $22,933,007
11. IND: $22,256,027
The two Broncos players to opt out were Ja’Wuan James and earlier Kyle Peko. Both players salaries will be deferred to next season and will receive their opt out salary of either $150k or, in Peko’s case, the high-risk $350k. Those decisions opened up the available salary cap for Denver significantly with $675k from Peko and a whopping $13M from James. The team also released veteran tight end Jeff Heuerman and defensive end Joel Heath freeing up another $5M+ in salary cap there.
With James opting out, a huge hole in depth opened up at the tackle position. The team immediately sought to fill that gap by bringing in veteran right tackle Demar Dotson for a visit. Latest reports suggest the team could sign him as early as later this week, but COVID-19 has slowed this process of meeting and vetting a potential new player down some. If they do sign Dotson, the Broncos won’t remain in the Top 5 in cap space for long.
Other notable salary caps from around the league would be the Las Vegas Raiders down there at 31st with a mere $3.2M in cap. The Kansas City Chiefs have a little more wiggle room with $13M. However, with all of the opt outs and the departure of Tom Brady, it is the New England Patriots near the top with $33M in cap space. It does make one wonder if Bill Belichick is trying to sneak in a tank in 2020.