February 10, 2009 3:00 PM
Broncos Inbox -- Feb. 11
Welcome, the Broncos Inbox is open and the impending roster upheaval that's expected when free agency opens Feb. 27 led a light week. So, off we go . . .
Clay asked
Q: Any chance you can give the names and figures for any large bonuses due in March?
And Jimmy Moore in Windsor, Ontario,
Q: Assuming Coach Josh McDaniels and his staff have completed their evaluations of the talent on the roster, who are some of the players that might be cut because of their performance on the field last season or because they just don't fit the new offensive/defensive systems that will be installed?
And Matthew Sewell . . .
Q: What are the chances and what would it take for the Broncos to sign a high profile free agent like Ray Lewis or Terrell Suggs?
A: When you talk about free agency, it's really a two-tiered question. The first is salary cap space.
And with the cap scheduled to be $123 million per team, it shouldn't be that big an issue for any team in the league, except perhaps the Jets, who have $130 million committed for salaries in 2009 at the moment - that can be adjusted some with some cuts and re-negotiations -- and are leveraged pretty badly in the coming seasons with their spending spree last March.
The Colts also currently have just over $130 million committed to contracts in 2009. On Feb. 27, however, when free agency opens teams only have to count their top 51 salaries to be under the cap so most teams won't have any problem.
The Broncos currently have $114,630,341 committed for contracts in 2009, but have more than 51 players under contract.
That, though, brings us to the second tier. And that's cash. It takes cash for the up-front signing bonuses, it takes cash to lure top-tier free agents and the Broncos don't have piles of cash at the moment.
And judging from the conversations I've had with plenty of general managers and personnel executives around the league, a lot of teams are saying they're feeling the cash pinch right now. Baseball free agency has been slow all winter because of it and other than the elite, top free agents, it looks like it will be slowed than usual in the NFL as well.
Teams have said this before, though, and run out in the first 48 hours of free agency and spent like crazy. But this year does have a different vibe, especially with teams having laid off office personnel over the past month.
So the Broncos will likely participate in free agency, but they'll likely look for players who fit the cost structure they want and they may wait a little bit until after the initial rush dies down to get a productive player who may not have gotten the action he expected when he hit the market.
Players like Albert Haynesworth, who has already said he wants to be the most highly paid defensive player in the league, and even Suggs may not fit the financial structure the Broncos are staring at right now.
Also Mike Shanahan is still on the books for $7 million this season and defensive coordinator Bob Slowik is on for over $1 million as well. When the Broncos fired Shanahan and his staff they not only made a commitment to change, but a commitment to pay the financial price of that as well since all of Shanahan's assistants had at least one year left on their deals.
The Broncos are responsible for that amount even if the coach gets another job, but his new contract doesn't equal what the Broncos were paying him. So the Broncos would have to pay the difference. The Broncos, for example, are still scheduled to pay part of Scott O'Brien's salary even though he took a job as the Patriots special teams coach.
The two teams can argue about the difference, and even go as far as getting an arbitrator to decide, but the Broncos will be paying some of O'Brien's salary no matter what.
There are also other former Broncos assistants who did not yet get jobs so the Broncos will have to pay as well. So that's a lot of salary out the door before you even start talking about players.
They do have some roster bonuses due in March to players like Dewayne Robertson ($4 million), Niko Koutouvides ($1.78 million) and Champ Bailey (just over $2 million), but it looks like Bailey would be the only one in that group assured of receiving the bonus. With a cap figure of $13.688 million for '09 the Broncos could try to re-negotiate something with Bailey, but he will be around.
Robertson and Koutouvides, as well as safety Marquand Manuel, are all in that group of defensive veterans (Marlon McCree, Karl Paymah, and Kenny Peterson are all unrestricted free ahents) that could find themselves out when the team does start formally trimming its roster to get ready for free agency and the offseason program.
The Broncos had negotiated some clauses in Robertson's contract that would have guaranteed part of a roster bonus if he reached certain playing time marks. The guaranteed part of the roster bonus would have maxed out at $10 million if he had played 80 percent of the team's snaps and it would have been $8 million guaranteed for 75 percent of the snaps, $7 million guaranteed for 70 percent, $5 million guaranteed for 65 percent.
That's just the guaranteed part, but none of it is now a concern for the Broncos since Robertson didn't play enough snaps to engage any of the guarantees. He also didn't play enough for the Broncos to have to surrender a draft pick in the trade that brought him to Denver.
The Broncos will have some dead money against the salary cap - cap charges for players no longer on the roster -- to deal with if they release some veteran players. A player like Koutouvides, for example, got a $2 million signing bonus, so he would count after he is gone if he is released.
It will be intriguing to see how the Broncos handle linebacker Jamie Winborn as well. Winborn and new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan did not see eye to eye when Winborn was with the 49ers and Nolan was the team's head coach.
Nolan actually kicked Winborn out of the team's practice complex just before trading him to Jacksonville in 2005. Winborn has always said it took him years to rebuild his reputation and contends he was never given a clear answer as to what he did wrong with the 49ers.
Winborn has one year left on a two-year contract he signed before last season.
But, in short, any Broncos defensive player not named Champ Bailey or D.J. Williams is up for debate at this point. The turnover on defense is also still expected to be far higher than on offense.
In terms of offensive players, certainly center Casey Wiegmann, who started every game and does not have a contract for 2009, needs some attention. The team will have to get him in with a new deal if he wants to play - he has told teammates he does - and the Broncos will also have to decide if wide receiver Brandon Marshall has shown enough maturity to get the new long-term deal he covets.
Marshall is set to head into the last year of his original deal.
Also, because of the Broncos were facing a bit of a cash crunch in other years when they spent big in free agency, they do also have some players set to receive some deferred money in March.
Dre' Bly is due a $3 million deferred payment March 31 and Daniel Graham is due a $2 million deferred payment on that same date. That's more cash already accounted for when the Broncos start looking for the bottom line in all of this.
One contract that won't need much attention this time around is Cutler's. He did earn some performance bonuses this past season -- he has a $100,000 Pro Bowl bonus in each year of the contract he signed in 2006 so earned that this year and he also had a $1.95 million bonus in each of the first five years of the deal for a top-five finish in any major passing category and he was third in passing yards. He also had a $3 million bonus for any two years in which he has 60 percent playing time - he cleared that in 2007 and 2008.
But Cutler isn't due a big roster bonus the team would have to look at until 2010 -- $4 million - and 2011 -- $12 million. But 2011 is the last year of the deal and it's unlikely the Broncos would let him get into that season without doing some kind of extension.
Robert Johnson in Kilmichael, Miss., had a little history on his mind . . .
Q: I read that the NFL will celebrate the AFL's 50th anniversary during the 2009 season and that the original eight AFL clubs will wear "throwback" uniforms for one home game and one away game. Does this mean we will get to see the Broncos wear their "throwback" helmets, jerseys, and pants twice next season?
A: The league has decided the original AFL teams would wear throwback uniforms in games against each other
Each original AFL team will wear the throwbacks against another original throwback team once at home and once on the road.
Because the Broncos have three other original AFL teams in their own division (Chargers, Chiefs - formerly the Texans in 1960 -- and Raiders) the choices are plentiful since the Broncos play each home and away.
The Broncos also play the Patriots in Invesco Field at Mile High in '09 and with that being McDaniels' former team that may be a good bet for the home throwback game. Away the only original AFL franchises the Broncos play next season are their divisional opponents.
And finally . . . there was an unsigned question - not my preference, but it has come up a few times in recent weeks - about the draft order.
Only the positions in the first round are set right now. The Broncos draft 12th overall. Beyond that the official positions won't be locked in until March when all of the compensatory picks are awarded.
The Broncos picks:
No. of picks Round
1 First (12th overall)
1 Second
1 Third
1 Fourth
2 Fifth (one from Broncos, one from Seattle in Keary Colbert trade)
1 Sixth
2 Seventh (one from Broncos, one from Atlanta in Domonique Foxworth trade)
Again, specific picks after the first round won't be set until late next month.
That's it and thanks.
--Jeff Legwold
February 11, 2009
1:20 PM
Chris Allen writes:
Jeff, no one seems to be talking or showing the 5th round pick Denver was supposed to get from the Cowboys for trading Montre Holland to them. Is this pick for next year or this year, or what happend to it?
February 11, 2009
1:22 PM
Dan Myers writes:
Jeff,
Why do you say specific picks after the first round won't be set until late next month? Compensatory picks are awarded after the third round and that has not changed, right?
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