Broncos Roster, Signings and Rumours Discussion 2025

[Santa]

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.

 

[theshed]

Bit of a gronk move for Kev to publicly talk outside of school about the clubs finances based on knowledge he obtained while there.

 

[Super Freak]

I can see a bit of "take a bit less and we'll make up for it when the next TV deal happens" going on.

If it's as much as being projected, the salary cap is in for quite an increase.

It's risky, but it's really the only way I can see us not losing anyone we want to keep.

 

[BroncsFan]

I can see a bit of "take a bit less and we'll make up for it when the next TV deal happens" going on.

If it's as much as being projected, the salary cap is in for quite an increase.

It's risky, but it's really the only way I can see us not losing anyone we want to keep.

Yeah this is the big thing for the broncos... we're in a premiership window at the moment, so kind of need guys to take short term deals to give themselves a chance to win, until the next TV deal when the new landscape is known.

Reynolds and Bhunt are nearing retirement so that will open up cash once they're gone and then we've got the next TV rights deal.

As long as the R&R team don't tie everyone to rachet clauses, which they shouldn't because we have no idea how much it is going up, we should be sweet in a couple years.

Walsh is probably the only one I would tie to a rachet deal, and even that has limits because he has a long way to go... but we better not have Ezra on a rachet... and Payne as great as he is has a limit.

He doesn't need to be going up with the salary cap... he's a prop and he's already the highest paid at $1.1m... that doesn't need to become $1.5m because the cap has gone up.

He should be looking for an extension at his current deal and then we check again when the new CBA is done.

 

[ningnangnong]

Bit of a gronk move for Kev to publicly talk outside of school about the clubs finances based on knowledge he obtained while there.

To be fair, nothing he's said there sounds like it's based on 'inside' information. It's all speculation, like every other media hack.

That's his job now - to generate clicks - ergo speculation is good.

 

[BroncsFan]

To be fair, nothing he's said there sounds like it's based on 'inside' information. It's all speculation, like every other media hack.

That's his job now - to generate clicks - ergo speculation is good.

Yeah I didn't really hear any insider info from Kevvie out of it... it sounded like he was speculating to appease Dobbo.

It's interesting, because Kevvie would know the books, but he was acting like he didn't... I don't think you can really take anything out of what he said.

As part of leaving he might've signed an NDA, so maybe he had to play dumb.

 

[bert_lifts]

I kinda hate how obsessed everyone is with our roster and salary cap. Nearly ever media outlet is reporting/doing videos on it this week. I swear it gets spoken about more than Penrith ever has in their era.

Of course they never talk about the storm and how they manage to have rep players in every single key position lol (also lets ignore their betr share investments via matt tripp too, nothing sus at all).

 

[Foordy]

Yeah this is the big thing for the broncos... we're in a premiership window at the moment, so kind of need guys to take short term deals to give themselves a chance to win, until the next TV deal when the new landscape is known.

Reynolds and Bhunt are nearing retirement so that will open up cash once they're gone and then we've got the next TV rights deal.

As long as the R&R team don't tie everyone to rachet clauses, which they shouldn't because we have no idea how much it is going up, we should be sweet in a couple years.

Walsh is probably the only one I would tie to a rachet deal, and even that has limits because he has a long way to go... but we better not have Ezra on a rachet... and Payne as great as he is has a limit.

He doesn't need to be going up with the salary cap... he's a prop and he's already the highest paid at $1.1m... that doesn't need to become $1.5m because the cap has gone up.

He should be looking for an extension at his current deal and then we check again when the new CBA is done.

Ratchet deals aren't necessarily a bad thing ... And they're possibly only going to get added if you can convince your franchise players (like Walsh, Hass and Patty) to sign long term deals past the new TV rights deal.

Let's take Walsh for example ... He's new deal is $1.1 million per season which is about 9.1% of the current $12 million cap ... If the club is happy with that allocation of cap space for Walsh then a ratchet clause keeping him at 9.1% if the cap should it increase, won't change Walsh's affect on our cap management.

Besides it doesn't have to be an unlimited ratchet clause, you could put a max figure on it, like the Knights did with Dylan Brown.

 

[theshed]

To be fair, nothing he's said there sounds like it's based on 'inside' information. It's all speculation, like every other media hack.

That's his job now - to generate clicks - ergo speculation is good.

He literally said “my experience with the salary cap at the broncos [i.e last year].” then definitively says they can’t afford Reynolds

 

[ningnangnong]

He literally said “my experience with the salary cap at the broncos [i.e last year].” then definitively says they can’t afford Reynolds

The video has been cut up very selectively.

When he says 'my experience' he then says 'you can't keep everyone', which is a extremely general statement, that would apply to any other team in the comp.

The comments about not being able to afford Reynolds sound like pure speculation to me. There's no reference to any information that's not in the public domain. He's just trying to manufacture a bit of drama.

 

[Sproj]

Payne definitely didn’t sound like he’s close to re-signing or even wanting to re-sign when asked. It was very dismissive, saying he’ll wait to the end of the year.

Even when asked about playing with his youngest bro who’s signed at the Broncs, he said he doesn’t even know if he’ll be at Brissy that long.

 

[BroncsFan]

Payne definitely didn’t sound like he’s close to re-signing or even wanting to re-sign when asked. It was very dismissive, saying he’ll wait to the end of the year.

Even when asked about playing with his youngest bro who’s signed at the Broncs, he said he doesn’t even know if he’ll be at Brissy that long.

He was saying the same things last time before re-signing

 

[broncos4life]

Payne definitely didn’t sound like he’s close to re-signing or even wanting to re-sign when asked. It was very dismissive, saying he’ll wait to the end of the year.

Even when asked about playing with his youngest bro who’s signed at the Broncs, he said he doesn’t even know if he’ll be at Brissy that long.

Here we go again…

 

[Sproj]

He was saying the same things last time before re-signing

What a shame, I really hoped we had moved beyond this. I'm just reporting what I saw.

 

[BroncsFan]

What a shame, I really hoped we had moved beyond this. I'm just reporting what I saw.

Same.

I'm guessing his manager is just telling him to shut it whilst he figures out the market value.

They've just seen Brown go for $1.3m and Payne is playing above what he was when he signed the $1.1m deal... so they'll be wanting some absurd deal before the TV rights deal just so Payne's value keeps going up.

The issue is just the complete unknown with the next deal... also noting a CBA will need to be sorted out, before the cap figure can be finalised, and last time that took forever.

$1.1m could either be the new $800k and not that bad for a prop or an anchor on the cap pending on what happens with the deal.

I think Broncos are trying to string along as many as they can until the cap is sorted and they can re-evaluate the cap landscape

 

[McHunt]

Payne definitely didn’t sound like he’s close to re-signing or even wanting to re-sign when asked. It was very dismissive, saying he’ll wait to the end of the year.

Even when asked about playing with his youngest bro who’s signed at the Broncs, he said he doesn’t even know if he’ll be at Brissy that long.

If you were in his position, and your priority is your family, your retirement, your teammates, and then your club, how would you answer differently?

The club has been as good to Payne as Payne has been for the club. Unless he falls out with the coach - and that's always a possibility for every player and every coach - both parties will try to make this work.