Ryan Clady Traded to the Jets: Ryan Edwards

First Domino Falls

Ryan Edwards

Ryan Clady, the last remaining Bronco player of the Mike Shanahan era, has been traded to the New York Jets. Following the announcement of Pro Bowl Jets OT D’Brickashaw Ferguson to retire after 10 seasons, everything fell into place for the Broncos to move their former first round pick and get much needed salary cap relief.

The trade: Broncos sent OT Ryan Clady and a 7th round pick (235 overall) to the Jets for a 5th round pick (157 overall).

Clady trade would add $8.9M of cap room. Broncos came into today with $320,296 of cap space. https://t.co/7jIgH8Wbkp

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) April 10, 2016

The Broncos gained $8.9 million toward the cap this season, though they still have to carry $1.2 million in dead money because of Clady’s pro-rated signing bonus. According to Ian Rapoport, Clady reworked his contract to a 1-year, $6 million deal with $3 million guaranteed. Once again, John Elway comes out of this looking better than he did before, adding OT Russell Okung in place of Clady for $5 million instead of the $6 million that Ryan is making with the Jets.

Ryan Clady's new deal with #Jets: 1-year deal for $6M base value with $3M guaranteed. Clady has 1 option year for $10M escalating to $13M

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 10, 2016

Clady's first year goes to $7.5M with incentives (Okung had $5M). Clady has 2-year max value of $20.5M. Was to make $19.5M with no guarantee

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 10, 2016

So what will the Broncos do with all of this new cap space? Obviously, they need around $6-7 million in space to sign their rookies. This trade gives them more than enough room to accomplish that. What else can they do? The speculation, at least initially, is they are adding draft stock and salary cap room to finalize a contract for QB Colin Kaepernick. According to The Fan’s 9 News Broncos Insider Mike Klis, trading Ryan Clady was not part of a plan to acquire Kaepernick. Sure, the cap space helps the Broncos position in negotiations, but trading Clady was a virtual lock since the Broncos signed Okung. This move was always going to happen so the Broncos have been operating under the guise that they had this money available.

According to Klis, the deal between the 49ers and Broncos isn’t dead yet, but communication has stopped, for now. Simply put, the Broncos don’t want to pay Kaepernick more than “elite backup” money because he is expected to compete for a job here rather than have it handed to him. Yes, if the Broncos are able to make this trade work with the 49ers, it stands to reason that Kaepernick SHOULD win the starting job but that won’t be how it is sold to him or the team. He will compete just like the others.

The fact is, Kaepernick represents a lot of upside but there are some significant concerns about his abilities as well. NFL fans have seen the highs and lows of this young man and Elway is right to be cautious in pursuit of a player whose performance may be more like his recent history (being benched for Blaine Gabbert last season) than the moments of taking the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012 and NFC Championship Game in 2013. The hope, if acquired by the Broncos, is his seemingly natural fit in Kubiak’s offense will return him to the dominance we saw earlier in his career.

If the Broncos don’t land Kaepernick, expect them to bring in another veteran QB in the range of Brian Hoyer or Josh McCown.

Denver is also still trying to work out a long term contract with OLB Von Miller, who is set to make $14.1 million next season on his franchise tag. The Broncos can structure his new contract with a low cap hit the first season and pro-rate out his signing bonus but he is still set to be the highest paid OLB in NFL history.

The Broncos have gained salary cap space and an additional fifth round draft pick in an effort to improve this team. It remains to be seen exactly what they will use this on. It could be a big move, like acquiring Kaepernick, or more likely, smaller moves like signing RB Ronnie Hillman and paying their rookies. The expectation is, as it’s always been, more answers will continue to come as we inch closer to the NFL Draft at the end of this month.

Ryan Edwards

@ryanedwards

TOP PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports