The Denver Broncos have handed out a lot of contract extensions lately, mostly with the goal of retaining their best players. It’s fair to wonder when the money stream ends and which players come up short on the extension front, and Nick Kosmider of The Athletic named a surprising lineman in a rundown of potential cap cuts for each team.
Guard Ben Powers is one of the Broncos best linemen, but the 30-year old veteran missed nine games last season due to a biceps tear and is scheduled to count $18.1 million against the cap this season, according to Kosmider.
His injury forced the Broncos to scramble, but it also gave Denver teh chance to evaluate swing tackle Alex Palczewski, who joined the team in 2023 as an undrafted free agent, at left guard. Palczewski mostly helps up well, and releasing Powers would save the Broncos $12.7 million in cap space if they designated him as a post-June 1 release.
He’d be the next man up, but Denver would only do this if they saw Palczewski as a comparable replacement. The Broncos could also save $3.2 million by releasing fellow lineman Matt Peart, who stepped in when Powers went out but quickly sustained the same injury. Peart has no guaranteed money remaining on the two year deal he signed last spring.
This is dangerous territory for Denver, and it doesn’t feel at all like something the Broncos would do. Coach Sean Payton understands the importance of the offensive line better than most coaches, and he also knows what it could do to the morale of this very tight positional group if Powers were let go. A restructuring is probably more likely but even that’s a stretch.
Releasing Peart would be less dangerous, but it would come with a small amount of risk. Denver’s depth was a big part of the reason the Broncos were able to make their run to the AFC Championship game, and it seems silly to mess with that unless it’s absolutely necessary.
There’s a small elephant in the corner of the room that will play a big part in this. The Broncos excelled at protecting quarterback Bo Nix, but they couldn’t generate much of a running game at all, even before J.K. Dobbins went out with a foot injury just after the midseason mark.
Solving this conundrum will be one of the top priorities for new offensive coordinator Davis Webb, and offensive run game coordinator and assistant coach Zach Strief will play an important role. The bet here is that Denver will address this issue by signing or drafting a running back, but it is a possibility if the number crunching indicates that it has to happen.