The Broncos spiced up a Saturday morning by agreeing to a four year, $102 million extension with Zach Allen. Per Mike Florio, here is what the contract table should look like:
Year
Base Salary
Signing Bonus
Per Game Roster Bonus
New Cash Paid
Running Cash Flow
Cap Number
2025
$2,490,000
$11,375,000
$510,000
$13,750,000
$13,750,000
$14,375,000
2026
$16,485,000
$11,375,000
$765,000
$17,250,000
$31,000,000
$28,625,000
2027
$22,350,000
$7,625,000
$765,000
$23,000,000
$54,000,000
$30,740,000
2028
$21,735,000
$7,625,000
$765,000
$22,500,000
$76,500,000
$30,125,000
2029
$24,480,000
$4,800,000
$1,020,000
$25,500,000
$102,000,000
$30,300,000
Let's take a look as to how this contract stacks up to his peers.
Nik Bonitto really emerged on the scene in his third season in 2024, with 13.5 sacks, a pick six, another touchdown that for all intents and purposes is another pick six--contributing to his first Pro Bowl and 2nd team All-Pro honors. This is an excellent foundation for him to work on securing the bag as soon as this year, and certainly no later than next year.
The Broncos have done very well to make their interior defensive line very stout and deep. But that depth is scheduled to be threatened, with three key figures in Zach Allen, John Franklin-Myers, and Malcolm Roach all entering the final season of their contracts. Each player will have differing circumstances to consider, and the Broncos will have to decide where to go with each differently.
After the 2025 season, the Broncos will have multiple key players hitting free agency. Some will have considerable complexities to sort through to find a fair contract for player and team alike. But I feel that that won't be the case for one player and his position: center Luke Wattenberg. He is the only future question on a Broncos offensive line that is otherwise under contract for multiple seasons. Thus, before the long holiday I thought it would be proper to briefly address an extension for him.
With almost all of the major 2025 roster changes in the books for the Broncos, as usual around this time of year I like to take a look at what to watch for during the upcoming season, and how that could implicate decisions to think about for the next season. Note that while this has "2026" in the title, there will still be 2025 transactions to consider as well as the coming months move on.
Now that draft and the bulk of free agency is over, it's time as always to evaluate my offseason road map, and see how well my preferred goals overlapped with the goals that the Broncos set out for themselves.
This is a three year, $39 million contract with $20 million fully guaranteed, those guarantees coming via a signing bonus of $7.5 million and base salaries of $1.5 million and $11 million in 2025 and 2026. For 2027, Hufanga has an option bonus of $14.74 million that--in a technique quite unique to the Broncos--is due on September 1, just before the start of the regular season. Five void years are placed on this contract--two in use right now for Hufanga's signing bonus, two more should the proration option on his 2027 bonus be exercised, and the final one reserved for potential future use in an extension should the Broncos want to keep those cap dollars prorated.
Hufanga has $1 million worth of annual per game roster bonuses. For 2025, because Hufanga only played 7 games, only $411,765 of that will count against the Broncos' salary cap in 2025. Should he play more than 7 games, the remaining per gamers will be counted against the 2026 cap instead, and should he play fewer, a credit will be issued.
Hufanga also has $6 million in incentives and escalators available to earn. In 2025 and 2026, the incentives are tied to interceptions--he needs 3 to earn $250,000, 4 to earn another $250,000, and 5 for another $500,000. In 2027, it shifts to snap counts: 80% earns $250,000, and 90% another $250,000. Finally, Hufanga has annual $500,000 AP First Team All Pro incentives, and for each one he is named to in 2025 and 2026, $500,000 escalators are available for 2027.
†fully guaranteed salary ‡$2 million of salary vests to fully guaranteed on the 5th day of the 2026 league year
This is a three year, $31.5 million contract that pays Greenlaw a million above the $10.5 million APY in his first season, including a $6.5 million signing bonus. Also highly notable with this contract is the presence of per game roster bonuses amounting to $90,000 per game, larger than something more typical than the $30,000 per game that's in Evan Engram's contract
UPDATE - March 21: Per Over The Cap, the Broncos also added one void year to Engram's contract. The proration of the cap dollars of the signing bonus have been updated.
Per Mike Klis, this looks to be a simple one at two years and $23 million:
Season
Base Salary
Prorated Signing Bonus
Regular Roster Bonus
Per Game Roster Bonus
Cash Due
Cap Number
2025
$2,990,000†
$2,666,666
$510,000†
$11,500,000
$5,956,666
2026
$10,990,000‡
$2,666,666
$510,000
$11,500,000
$14,166,666
2027
Void
$2,666,668
$2,666,668
†fully guaranteed salary in entirety ‡$5 million of salary is fully guaranteed
Per Klis's description, Engram's total guaranteed money comes in at $16.5 million, via a $8 million signing bonus, $7.99 million in base salary over both seasons of the contract, and what's stated to be a $510,000 roster bonus in 2025, without a qualifier on whether it is awarded per game, as it is in 2026. It's unusual to see a regular roster bonus of this number, which is conspicuously divisible by 17, as per game roster bonuses are these days. If both roster bonuses are awarded per game, this table will be accordingly corrected.
One of the most disgraceful attributes stuck to the Broncos in their history is now gone: the team finally made it into the playoffs. This was a necessary step to get this team back to its winning ways. But it of course is not sufficient by itself--the Broncos will be among the 31 teams that failed at the perpetual goal of winning the Super Bowl. More steps are of course needed to continue to improve the roster and get the team closer to the ultimate prize.
But what is remarkable about this season's road map is just how short it is--probably the shortest I've ever written up. That's because George Paton was highly proactive in 2024 with taking care of critical players on the roster for the long term, with Patrick Surtain II, Quinn Meinerz, Jonathon Cooper, and Garett Bolles all getting well deserved extensions. Add onto this trading Baron Browning for a 6th round pick in the last season of his contract, and there's considerably less work that the Broncos need to do with the existing roster until they continue to fortify with the upcoming rookie class. That's a good place to be in.