With the retirement of their franchise left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, the New York Jets needed to find a suitable replacement for whoever is going to start for them this year. They accomplished just that by trading a fifth round pick to the Denver Broncos for offensive tackle Ryan Clady and a seventh round pick.
While Ryan Clady certainly is not D’Brickashaw Ferguson, he fills a need and (on a restructured deal) is a cheap stopgap starter for the Jets.
By trading Clady, the Denver Broncos cleared over $10 million in cap space. With only $1.2 million left on the books from Clady’s contract, the Broncos now have an estimated $9.5 million in cap space.
What could they possibly do with all of that cap space in the tail-end of free agency?
Maybe not sign a free agent, but maybe pull off a trade Broncos fans have been hoping for since Brock Osweiler left for Houston.
This salary cap dump by General Manager John Elway potentially clears a path for the Broncos to acquire quarterback Colin Kaepernick from the San Francisco 49ers.
Last week, multiple media outlets reported that the Broncos and 49ers had the parameters of a trade in place, but the deal was dependent on Kaepernick signing a restructured contract with the Broncos.
Kaepernick met with Elway last week, but it appears he was unwilling to take a major pay cut. With little cap space thanks to the Von Miller franchise tag (worth over $14 million) the Broncos were left with little to no viable quarterback options.
By clearing Ryan Clady’s contract, the Broncos can now increase the amount of their proposed restructured contract to Kaepernick and entice him and the 49ers to sign off on a trade.
This paves a road for Chip Kelly and the 49ers to take a quarterback with the seventh overall pick. Most likely that pick would be used on hometown prospect Jared Goff from Cal. By potentially adding another draft pick to their arsenal from a Kaepernick trade, the 49ers are now more capable of trading up for either Goff or North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz.
The Broncos are now in a strong position once again to make a run towards another playoff run with a proven quarterback on the field. While they did lose a lot of key players this offseason, John Elway has proven himself as a capable general manager. With a strong draft class, the Denver Broncos should once again be a strong favorite to take home the Lombardi Trophy.