After being benched on Wednesday, Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson knows that his release is likely to follow.
Nothing is official yet — and if the Broncos do cut Wilson, it will likely happen in March — but an eventual release seems inevitable.
Because of the way the quarterback’s contract is structured, Denver will have to eat a lot of “dead money” — salary that is guaranteed or has already been paid and will count against the salary cap even if Wilson is no longer on the team.
If the Broncos release Wilson before March 17, he would have a “dead money” cap hit of $85 million in 2024. If they designate his release as a post-June 1 release, the cap hit would be spread out over two years — $35.4 million in 2024 and $49.6 million in 2025.
Denver is already projected to be $18 million over the salary cap in 2024, so Wilson’s (expected) release will complicate their cap situation even more. Assuming the Broncos designate it as a post-June 1 cut, here are Wilson’s pending “dead money” cap hits (and net cap savings) through 2028, with help from OverTheCap.com.
2024: $35.4 million (net savings: $0)
2025: $49.6 million (net savings: $0)
2026: $18.4 million (net savings: $40 million)
2027: $8.4 million (net savings: $45 million)
2028: $4.4 million (net savings: $50 million)
So the Broncos will have huge cap hits over the next two years before finally getting big cap relief in 2026. Denver will have to make some tough roster decisions in 2024 and 2025 to get under the salary cap following Wilson’s expected release.
