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Who is the Broncos' most overpaid player entering the 2026 season?

The Denver Broncos have done an exemplary job of roster building and feel that they have a championship-caliber roster.

Following a fairly frugal approach to the free-agent signing period, the team still has about $18.7 million in available salary cap space, according to Over the Cap. But every team has bad contracts. These are contracts given to players who haven't performed to the level that their salary indicates, creating high cap numbers for the team to deal with.

Looking at the entire roster, the Broncos don't have many of these.

Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report recently identified the most overpaid player on every team's roster, and he chose offensive guard Ben Powers for the Broncos.

"Denver's offensive line is fantastic, but Powers is clearly the weakest link. The left guard is a replacement-level player who missed significant time due to injury in 2025 and is entering his age-30 campaign with no Pro Bowl nods on his resume. His $18.2 million cap hit for 2026 is the ninth-highest at the position", wrote Gagnon.

Ben Powers chosen as Broncos' most overpaid player

This is an understandable selection, mostly because of all the time that Powers missed last season after tearing his biceps. When the Broncos gave a new contract to Alex Palczewski this offseason, there was plenty of speculation that Powers would be a cap casualty. However, soon after, it was made clear that the Broncos were sticking with Powers.

Powers will count $18.1 million against the cap in 2026, but aside from that torn biceps, he has been quite reliable for the team. That should be expected to continue.

You could make an argument that a different offensive lineman is actually the most overpaid player on the team. Mike McGlinchey, the team's starting right tackle, will have a cap number of $23.7 million this season, the highest on the team.

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McGlinchey hasn't played poorly, but that is a lot of money to allocate to a right tackle. That said, keeping a consistent group together along the offensive line has been a focus of this team, so it's understandable that changes aren't being sought.

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