Our salary cap will be a balancing act for sure, but I think the key to all of it at the moment is the length of contracts.
In recent times we've been utilising smaller contracts that get to about 2 or 3yrs in total i.e. 2yr extensions, etc. and moved away from compounding high value contracts with long 4 or 5 years deals.
Under the previous administration we were handing out long deals on high money... Staggs getting a 4yr high paying extension, Darius 4yr deals with options, Milf long and high paying deal, Bird long and high paying deal, Lodge, TPJ, etc. Deals that you can't move out of, because the money is too high and then you get stuck with them and put pressure on the salary cap. Staggs not so much at the moment, but if it was a 2-3yr extension it would've aligned with Herbie and the arrival of Cobbo... and there's options to make sure we go down the right path.
The shorter deals that we've been doing now allows more flexibility in the roster... even if we have to move a player on and pay some of the contract, at least it's only shorter term that it impacts our cap. The previous long term high paying deals are too weighted to the player and a higher risk to the club.
Patty picked up a 4 or 5 year deal, but he's an absolute A+ in terms of low risk moving forward... but around that time it's been safe modest extensions to keep the roster flexible; Arthars (2yr extension), Paix (2yr), Jenson (2yr), Madden (2yr), Payne (3yr extension... but that was probably more him than us), Reynolds (3yr), Capewell (3yr), Kobe (2yr extension), etc.
Mariner was probably the only one in recent times that got a somewhat long deal with a 3yr extension. Cobbo also got a decent pay bump and 3yr extension, but that may have been a bit political to ensure Dolphins were kept at bay and it hasn't hurt us at the moment anyway.
It means more work for our recruitment and retention team with players constantly coming off contract, but it keeps us flexible.
In regards to Ezra I'm hoping he gets a decent pay bump but with a shorter extension like 2yr... even a 3 year extension might be too much. 2yrs with an upgrade on this year is effectively a new 3yr contract.
Shorter term works for Ezra as it gives him opportunity to upgrade in a couple years if he keeps getting better and his value sky rockets... it's also lower risk to the broncos as it gives us more time to ensure he'll be the real deal that the club can build around.