Breaking Down Malcolm Roach's Broncos Future—An Interesting Contract

As with Wattenberg, the Broncos have some flexibility with Roach's contract when it comes to the salary cap. They can choose to exercise future option bonuses to lower his cap number or decline them but pay them out as base salary.

The tradeoff is simple: Either the Broncos can take a lower cap charge in 2027 and 2028 in exchange for more dead money if Roach isn't re-signed in 2029 or they can take a higher cap charge in 2027 and 2028 but have less dead money on the boks if he departs in 2029.

The Broncos could move on from Roach in 2028 if necessary, because none of his money is guaranteed that season. They would have to deal with the dead money hit from any signing and option bonuses exercised and might wait until after June 1 to cut him so they could spread out those dead money charges.

In 2027, the question would be whether the Broncos choose to exercise Roach's option bonus or decline it but pay it as base salary. That would mean a higher cap charge but less dead money to deal with down the road.

Roach's contract situation is likely one of the reasons why the Broncos may not be so quick to use up their current available cap space. Remember that any unused cap space in 2026 will carry over into 2027, which could allow the Broncos to decline Roach's option bonus, treat it as base salary, and fit that under the cap.

The Takeaway

Roach will be with the Broncos for two more seasons, and because the team has exercised his option bonus this year, it will have to deal with the ramifications in future seasons. Vance Joseph has floated Roach's name as a candidate to fill the vacuum that John Franklin-Myers's departure left on the Broncos' defensive line.

As for 2027, it will be interesting to see how the Broncos treat the money that Roach is due. If they enter 2027 with a good amount of cap space, they may not have to exercise the option bonus and just pay his money as base salary. But the Broncos wouldn't have to make a decision until September 1 in that case.

For 2028, the Broncos could get out of the deal if necessary, though they might have to figure out the logistics of spreading out the dead-money charges. Some of that can be reduced if the Broncos don't exercise his 2027 option bonus, though.

The Broncos did make things interesting with Roach's contract structure. It's just a question of what the Broncos decide to do with those option bonuses — and much of that will likely go back to what the team's cap situation looks like in the future.