In discussions regarding how the Broncos will fit players like Demaryius Thomas and Von Miller into their budget, most attention has focused upon the big name tickets like DeMarcus Ware, Ryan Clady, and even Peyton Manning as having big cap numbers that may be disposed of come 2016. But after reading today’s front page article at PFF (link beyond the fold), I am reminded of where the Broncos should really start in cutting away the fat.
– The highest hang time on a single coffin punt in 2014 came from Denver’s Britton Colquitt, with a hang time of 5.60 seconds on a punt against the 49ers in Week 7.
This is Colquitt’s only mention in the entire article–and that’s not a good thing. While he wins the Small Sample Size Award here (in a game the Broncos won 42-17), he fails to crack the top five in any of PFF’s six metrics. That’s a problem, of course, since Colquitt is being paid on an APY basis as the highest punter in the league:
Toggle the transaction columns to post-June 1, and take a look at the cap savings the Broncos get by cutting Colquitt before the 2015 regular season starts. He will only incur $750,000 worth of dead money in both 2015 and 2016, with the respective savings coming in at his base salaries of $3 million and $3.25 million.
Add those two base salary numbers up due to carryover, and that’s $6.25 million that becomes available. That is hardly an insignificant amount of money. A lucrative contract extension for, say, Malik Jackson could easily fall below that number in cap dollars for 2016.
If Karl Schmitz shows any semblance of competency in training camp and the preseason, this should be the easiest transaction for the Broncos to make. Hell, even if he doesn’t, they should be heavily scouring the waiver wire for punters come the end of August.