The New Orleans Saints traded kicker Wil Lutz to the Denver Broncos on Tuesday in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick (and the kicker’s agent was not happy about it).
By acquiring Lutz, the Broncos are also inheriting part of his contract. New Orleans will still have his prorated $2.42 million signing bonus counting against their salary cap, but Denver will take on the kicker’s 2023 salary.
Lutz is set to have a $1.25 million salary cap hit and a $450,000 game-day roster bonus, according to OverTheCap.com. That means his total salary hit with the Broncos this season will be $1.7 million.
When the team released veteran kicker Brandon McManus earlier this year, Denver took on a $1,231,250 “dead money” cap hit. Combined with Lutz’s $1.7 million cap hit, the Broncos now have $2,931,250 invested in the kicker position this year.
Denver created a net savings of $3.75 million when they cut McManus. So after all the dust settles, the Broncos will have a net savings of $2.05 million after switching from McManus to Lutz at kicker.
