Second round of cuts frees up $20 million in cap space for 2009

As announced last night, the Broncos released six "key" veterans to last years team. Initially I thought maybe the Broncos would have saved $7-$8 million total for 2009. But I was wrong. Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com(http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/02/17/broncos-cap-moves-clear-more-than-20-million-in-cap-space) is reporting that the Broncos are going to save more than $20 million in cap space for 2009.

Now obviously, this is not all base salary, but as far as bonuses off of incentives that were due(Mainly to Dewayne Robertson), the net gain of this move exceeds $20 million. So yes, essentially, the Broncos have saved that much money just off of these cuts.

So if you add that, on top of this, the Broncos now have well over $25 million available to spend this year alone. Keep in mind that this is just the second round of cuts too. We could realistically be expecting at least one more round of cuts, that includes cornerback Dre Bly. According to USA Today, Bly was paid $10.4 million in 2008 alone, with a base salary of $1 million, and the rest being bonuses. I'm not positive on his 2009 cap numbers, but if it's anything that resembles his 2008 numbers, the Broncos could be looking at a spending budget of at least $30 million next month.

Regardless, the Broncos have money to spend, and should be one of the most active teams in the league in two weeks.