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BRONCOS Grim Reaper misses his bull's-eye ``Dead money'' usually kills a team's chances to be successful. But the Broncos are undefeated.
by Mike Klis The Denver Post , The Denver Post
"He's on somebody else's roster right now," cornerback Champ Bailey said with a chuckle. "I learn something about the salary cap every year. I can understand it counting maybe for the following year, but this far down the road? The system is crazy."
Imagine, Josh McDaniels' first day on the job as Broncos coach and finding out 3 percent of his salary cap payroll would be allocated to a guy wearing a jumpsuit in Yazoo.
The absurdity doesn't end with Henry, who will celebrate his 31st birthday today as an inmate.
In listing the most stunning aspects about the 6-0 record the Broncos will take into their game Sunday at Baltimore, the efficient play of quarterback Kyle Orton, dramatic defensive transformation and attitude U-turn of receiver Brandon Marshall are often cited.
Nothing may be more amazing than this: The Broncos lead the NFL with $29.6 million in "dead money."
Dead money does not necessarily mean a team continues to pay cold, hard cash to players it no longer employs. The Broncos have long stopped writing enormous checks to Henry.
But oftentimes, prorated bonuses that become part of the NFL's salary cap formula serve as a reminder of costly past mistakes.
Most of the Broncos' dead money is allocated to players who essentially are dead to the NFL - 11 of the 16 most expensive players on their "dead money" payroll are no longer in the league.
And some people claim McDaniels inherited more talent than did the first-year coaches in Kansas City, Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland and Tampa Bay?
"There's nothing you can do about those situations," McDaniels said. "You understand what you're dealing with, and you move on. We never one time thought of it as a limitation in terms of putting together the most competitive team we could possibly have."
All that dead money conversely means no team has done more with less than the Broncos . Essentially, the Broncos built their undefeated 61-man roster (including the eight-man practice squad) on $92.4 million in salary cap dollars.
Not bad, considering some teams had roughly the full $128 million salary cap at their disposal.
"Put it this way: If they were 1-5 or 0-6 instead of 6-0," said one NFL agent, "they would be using all that dead money as a valid excuse."
Teams with the next four highest amounts of dead money - Oakland, St. Louis, Detroit and Kansas City - are a combined 4-23.
The two teams with the least amount of dead money - Minnesota and Green Bay - are a combined 10-3.
So how did the Broncos become such a stirring exception?
"It tells you they have a lot of quality players on rookie contracts," former NFL general manager Charley Casserly said.
"And they picked up some veterans in the offseason for not high-dollar amounts."
Within the first five days of free agency - as the Jay Cutler saga exploded to cast an ominous cloud over the Broncos' 2009 expectations, as the New York Giants gave a $42 million contract to Chris Canty, as the Washington Redskins gave $41 million guaranteed to Albert Haynesworth - McDaniels and general manager Brian Xanders signed 12 free-agent players for a combined $36.62 million in guaranteed money.
All but two of those players - backup quarterback Chris Simms and running back J.J. Arrington, who was signed to a conditional contract based on a physical he eventually did not pass - have made a significant on-field impact this season.
Among the Broncos' initial free-agent group, Casserly said the Broncos found their greatest value in defensive backs Andre Goodman, Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill.
Those three players in the secondary replaced Dr? Bly, Marquand Manuel and Marlon McCree.
Not only did the Broncos considerably upgrade those three positions in terms of performance, but the $7.55 million in combined cap salaries of Goodman, Dawkins and Hill is 20 percent less than Bly's $9.45 million cap figure alone.
"It's easy to sit here and say now I understood what they were doing, but I think we did understand what they were doing," Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "A lot of people in Football did. Obviously the quarterback thing, they made a decision there and Josh knows what kind of situation he wanted to have there, and he knew exactly what he was looking for and got that done.
"And then the defensive side is what's really impressive. They went out and brought in a bunch of guys that, for whatever reason, they were available. I think they really selected carefully for the specific things they could do, and they've done such a great job of molding them together."
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com ------------- Gone, but accounted for
The Broncos have spent $122 million in salary cap money for their 2009 team. This figure includes an NFL-high $29.6 million in "dead money" from players no longer with the team:
Player....2009 cap figure....Replacement....
Dr? Bly....$9.45 million....Andre Goodman....
*Boss Bailey....$5.45 million....Andra Davis....
Jay Cutler....$4.73 million....Kyle Orton....
*Travis Henry....$3.6 million....Correll Buckhalter....
*Keary Colbert....$1.67 million....Jabar Gaffney....
Niko Koutouvides....$1.33 million....Darrell Reid....
Tim Crowder....$525,000....Le Kevin Smith....
*John Engelberger....$500,000....Ryan McBean....
*Alvin McKinley....$500,000....Ronnie Fields....
*Kory Lichtensteiger....$371,000....Seth Olsen....
*Nate Jackson....$213,000....Richard Quinn....
Marquand Manuel....$167,000....Brian Dawkins....
*Ryan Torain....$155,000....Knowshon Moreno....
*Carlton Powell....$142,000....Chris Baker....
*Louis Green....$106,000....David Bruton....
*J.J. Arrington....$104,000....LaMont Jordan....
Others....$587,000
Total dead money....$29.6 million
*Players no longer on active NFL rosters ------------- Dollars are dead, Denver is alive
Ordinarily, large amounts of "dead money" is no way to buy NFL success. The 2009 Broncos are an exception. Teams with the most, and least, "dead money" that is counted against their 2009 salary caps:
Team....Dead money....W-L....
1. Broncos ....$29.6 million....6-0....
2. Oakland....$27.8 million....2-5....
3. St. Louis....$26.5 million....0-7
4. Detroit....$26.1 million....1-5....
5. Kansas City....$24.6 million....1-6....
29. Philadelphia....$4.5 million....4-2....
30. Tennessee....$3.6 million....0-6....
31. Green Bay....$3.6 million....4-2....
32. Minnesota....$2.9 million....6-1....
Mike Klis, The Denver Post
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