Do the Broncos have something more up their sleeves?
Their move regarding Jaylen Waddle‘s contract indicates they might, as they created more salary-cap space by converting $15.416 million of his option bonus into a signing bonus, as first reported by Aaron Wilson of KPRC-Ch. 2 in Houston.
What this allows the Broncos to do is spread the guaranteed money on Waddle’s contract over future years, reducing his salary-cap figure for this season to $4.878 million.
This keeps the Broncos with approximately $19 million of cap space.
Because Waddle’s contract included void years in 2029 and 2030, the conversion of his option bonus into a signing bonus means that the $15.416 million will be spread over the next five years — accounting for $3,083,200-per-year of his charge for each of the next five seasons.
Waddle’s total salary-cap figure is expected to spike to $27,083,654 in 2027; the Broncos are on the hook for that.
Their earliest reasonable out from the deal would be in 2028, when he has a cap figure of $30,457,746 — but only $9,249,600 is tied up in guarantees tied to the remaining prorated portion of the signing bonus. That would be the Broncos’ dead money figure if they moved on from Waddle then.
But should Waddle perform as expected, it’s more likely the Broncos would work toward an extension that lowers the 2028 number.
WHAT THE BRONCOS ARE LOOKING AT IN FUTURE YEARS
Void years have become an increasing part of the Broncos’ cap-management strategy to create more space under the current cap.
For example, safety Talanoa Hufanga’s contract is a three-year deal, but as it’s structured, it has five void years on it, from 2028-32, according to data at Over the Cap. That allowed the Broncos to spread his signing bonus over five years and an option bonus all the way to 2031.
At this moment, Hufanga has a cap number of $14.792 for 2028 — which is a void year. But the team’s fans need not fret about that; it’s an accounting trick. If the Broncos simply let him walk in free agency, they’d have just $3 million in dead money — the prorated portion of his signing bonus that remained unaccounted for under their cap.
For accounting purposes, the Broncos already have 12 players with void years for 2030, including Waddle.
The team appears to be relying on a potential increase in the salary cap tied to a renegotiation of television contracts. According to multiple reports, the NFL and CBS are negotiating an increase in their deal in exchange for the league eliminating its opt-out clause after the 2029-30 season.
Once the CBS renegotiation is complete, the NFL is expected to begin discussions with Fox.
The NFL’s salary cap must be between 48 and 48.5 percent of league revenue. It rose from $279.2 million in 2025 to $301.2 million this year and has jumped by a staggering $119 million since 2021.