I think we probably are ok salary cap wise; however the inclusion of Bhunt may have been a spanner in the works IF Reynolds chooses to go around again.
Reynolds reduced his deal to like $600k or something and Bhunt is here on like $550k.
So I don't think it will be hard to accommodate both of them; however we are more than likely to be copping the full brunt of Walsh's upgrade as of next year (if not this year) and Ezra’s goes up year on year... which is where Reynolds money was going.
So to suddenly chuck $600k or so back into the cap for Reynolds potentially costs us someone we would've liked to keep.
I'd imagine we're looking at playing with **** all depth for the near future, so retain Gos, Shiba, etc. on near minimum deals for at least next year.
The young guys like Willison, BTK, Mozer, etc. will get bumps, but hopefully nothing too insane given they aren't cemented starters yet... but broncos do get FOMO and can be sucked into paying on potential.
Who to lose in order to keep Reynolds is the question.
I'd still hope that we can find a new home for Madden... just not needed anymore with a logjam at halves and Billy and Bhunt covering both halves and hooker.
You'd probably want to move Billy on... only because we have such a logjam in the halves and hooker. He still provides value next year, but broncos are likely hoping that Black moves up into a next man up for the halves behind Reynolds, Bhunt and Ezra... noting we also have Rogers as well.
So if nothing changes and we retain Reynolds the halves are something like Reynolds, Ezra, Bhunt, Madden, Black, Billy and Rogers... that is just way more than what's needed and you'd imagine Rogers is the only one on minimum wage... so there is cap space there if guys can be moved on.
And then we have hooker... Smoothy is leaving and Paix is off contract but I'm assuming Bukowski comes into the top 30, so we have Bhunt, Mozer, Paix, Billy and Bukowski.
That's probably 1 too many, and I'm assuming Madge may want Paix moreso than Billy just on youth alone. Because after Bhunt retires you can move forward with Mozer, Paix and Bukowski... for the next 3-5yrs.
Beyond the halves and hookers, other casualties might be Jensen (assuming Taupau retires and BTK moves up... Semu moving up 1 as well)... but I'd prefer to keep Jensen.
I'm assuming Baker is already in the sun, so we're getting back whatever cap he was taking up. Hunt may or may not be retained, but im assuming he's on minimum wage... he could look to move for opportunity though.
Kobe you'd imagine is on the retain list, but falls into the above rotation... old mate really needs to learn how to play edge backtow and he's a 5yr re-signing for this squad.
And then there's Cobbo... I don't really want to lose Cobbo... but if you can't move on Madden and/or Billy, and want to retain Jensen, Kobe and Paix, then he might be the one at risk to keep Reynolds for another year.
