Russell Wilson may have departed from the Denver Broncos, but his contract continues to be an albatross. When Sean Payton benched the quarterback with three games to play in 2023, it signaled Wilson’s days in Denver were numbered. The Broncos cut the veteran, who quickly signed on with the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, Denver is still paying $38 million of his salary this year, Pittsburgh is tabbed with the veteran minimum of $1.2M.

But, because of the timing of his cut, the Broncos are on the hook for a monstrous $85M in total. Let’s explore how it will break down the next two years.

Broncos taking a massive cap hit in 2024 for Wilson, substantial hit in 2025

Both Spotrac and Over The Cap are reporting the Broncos will take a $53 million salary cap hit in 2024 for Wilson. That’s a shocking 20.6% of their total cap this year, all for a player no longer on the roster.

Over The Cap shows the breakdown as follows:

  • $17M in base salary
  • $17M in guaranteed salary
  • $10M signing bonus
  • $8.4M option

The $53 million dead cap number is the largest in the history of the NFL, and by a wide margin. Because the Broncos declined his $22M bonus, they were able to take that larger hit in 2024, and made it a “manageable” $32M in 2025. The other option would have been cap numbers that were $35.4M in 2024 and $49.6M in 2025.

It signals that the Broncos are in full-on rebuild mode this offseason, although they do have some money to play with thanks to contract maneuvers. More on that in a minute.

As for Wilson’s contract, George Paton’s mistake was paying him guaranteed before ever taking a snap in Denver.

Keep in mind, that when Denver traded for Wilson, he had two years remaining on his deal from Seattle. The Broncos could have let him play one or both years before re-signing him. However, that would have opened up the possibility that the QB walked in free agency. That simply wasn’t an option considering Denver traded a ton of draft picks including: Two firsts, two seconds, a fifth, and three players.

Of course, no one expected Wilson to play the worst football of his career in 2022. But it seems clear at this point that Paton should have waited at least that first season to re-sign the quarterback.

What Denver Broncos 2024 salary cap looks like currently

The good news? The NFL salary cap ballooned to $255M this offseason, increasing by $30M in one year.

That giant leap helps Denver eat more salary this year.

They’ve also cut salary in many other places in the last few days.

Jerry Jeudy was traded away, freeing up $12M. They somewhat shockingly cut Justin Simmons, giving them $14.5M toward the cap. They also let starting center Lloyd Cushenberry walk, and starting linebacker Josey Jewell, too.

Finally, Paton was able to restructure the contracts of Tim Patrick, Mike McGlinchey, Zach Allen, and Ben Powers.

All told, the Broncos currently have $26.8M in salary cap room in 2024. That, per Over The Cap.

That includes the signings of safety Brandon Jones, defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, and re-signings of role players P.J. Locke, Adam Trautman, and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Locke now goes from backup to starting safety with Simmons gone.

So overall, there have been some decent moves by Paton and the Broncos this offseason, but it’s all too clear this 2024 season is going to be a long year in the Mile High City. Not only did they move on from Wilson, but this is what a complete tear down and rebuild looks like.

Their signings have come without a splash in a more wait-and-see approach.

Considering the high cap hit this year, though, it will give Sean Payton and Co. more flexibility next offseason to hopefully win some games in 2025.

As of today, George Paton needs to find the Broncos a starting quarterback, unless their plan is to start Jarrett Stidham. They also need a starting center, unless they plan on moving Quinn Meinerz back to center even though he played great at right guard. And they also need a starting inside linebacker, more defensive lineman, and at least one more starting receiver.

That $26M in cap room starts to not look so great after considering all the holes still in the roster.

Keep an eye on our Broncos free agency tracker for all the moves as they happen.