Kiz: While all the yada, yada has been about Russell Wilson, the Broncos have some sticky football decisions beyond quarterback. With little wiggle room against the NFL salary cap, how real is the possibility that Denver will have to say goodbye to a significant contributor or two in free agency? Let’s start here: Whose loss would hurt the team more? The departure of center Lloyd Cushenberry from the middle of the offensive line or the loss of linebacker Josey Jewell from the middle of the defense?
Gabriel: Good question, Kiz. Denver doesn’t have any Michelin stars hitting free agency but it has a whole bunch of meat and potatoes. The two you brought up are good examples, and so are many others like safety P.J. Locke and Mike Burton. In this conversation, I’m taking Cushenbery narrowly over Jewell. The pair are similarly without easy replacement options on the roster and ‘Cush’ might be slightly more difficult to retain — the center should have a nice market given the way he played this year. Denver spent last offseason bulking up its offensive line and touting the importance of chemistry there. Now they’re at risk of losing the man in the middle of it all.
Kiz: Distracted by diagramming football plays in elementary school, I never fully mastered my multiplication tables. So the NFL salary cap is way above my pay grade, not to mention my IQ level. If the Broncos cut Wilson, will the fallout of his immense dead money also force the team to say goodbye to meaningful contributors for financial reasons? We see roster churn every season on every NFL team. Will the Broncos suffer more because of their failed relationship with Wilson?
Gabriel: Yeah, nobody’s confusing me with a math whiz, either. I look at it in a very general sense as an either/or, although of course the details are more nuanced. If the Broncos go full-on bargain bin at quarterback (let’s count a potential rookie in this bucket), they can make somewhat normal roster decisions with most of the rest of their guys. That still means tough calls on several veterans, but not a required mass jettison. If the Broncos want to spend at QB, though, and play in the middle market, the cost of their quarterback room could push toward $50 million this year and perhaps well above that next year. That would require trimming in other parts of the roster. Not ideal either way.
Kiz: I think Locke is one of the more unsung heroes in the team’s recovery from that wretched 1-5 start. His solid play at the backend of the defense was a real blessing after Kareem Jackson’s repeated run-ins with the league’s player-safety police. So am I safe to assume Locke will return? If so, then I’d say the player whose departure could impact locker room chemistry the most would be Jewell, who’s far from perfect in pass coverage but is about as good a teammate as you’ll find anywhere in the league.
Gabriel: The thing about both Jewell and Cushenberry I keep coming back to is, if not them, then who? For Jewell, is it third-rounder Drew Sanders? Or is he ticketed for outside linebacker full-time in 2024? Can Denver bank on Jonas Griffith being healthy after missing a year and a half? For Cushenberry, is it 2023 seventh-rounder Alex Forsyth? GM George Paton said last week that they view him as a starter. Maybe guards Ben Powers and Quinn Meinerz make the idea of plugging in an untested center with a new quarterback more palatable. But that’s still a big change to a group that needs to take another step forward in 2024. Cushenberry would be a much surer bet, but even a mid-market center deal might be too rich for the Orange and Blue blood.
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