When I had forecasted a possible extension for Wattenberg back in July, I did not go into much detail on contract structure, as I figured it would be an easy and boring contract to structure. In addition to being what I consider to be team friendly compensation, I was indeed correct that the annual cash flow was boring, as follows:
Per Over The Cap, it's been revealed that JK Dobbins has a series of incentives that are up to $3.185 million on top of fully guaranteed salaries of $2.065 million for 2025. It's worth stepping through these incentives, because whether Dobbins obtains any of them could impact whether or not the Broncos get an extra draft pick for 2026.
Nik Bonitto gets $38.346 million in new money guaranteed at signing, with a $22 million signing bonus and a $14.031 option bonus due in 2026 constituting the lion's share. His entire 2027 base salary will vest to fully guaranteed near the start of the 2026 league year, making this amount very likely to be paid, with expected guarantees to be $62.836 million. For 2028, only about a third of his salary, $7.164 million has similar vesting at the start of 2027. Thus, if they cut Bonitto before that amount vests, with a June 1 designation the dead money in 2027 would be almost identical to his current 2027 cap charge, with another $17.218 million allocated to 2028. The standard in Broncos contracts of roster bonuses of $30,000 per game in non-fully guaranteed seasons are retained.
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.