ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- With John Elway at the top of the corporate flow chart on the football side of the Denver Broncos' day-to-day activities, the team has been more than willing to dive into free agency to see what it could do in what is a pricey auction at times.

Active, however, on its own terms. Elway has signed most veteran free agents to short-term deals, most of those one-year deals, especially early in his tenure.

They have usually reserved the high-dollar, multiyear contracts for those players in line for their second NFL contract where the potential to hit an ascending player, one who actually plays as well, or even a little better, after the deal than he did before it, are greatest.

So, on those terms, the Broncos will again be active in free agency when things officially get down business to next week.

They have, before they drop roughly $12.9 million or so on the franchise player tag for wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, about $26 million worth of workable salary-cap space to participate. A potential tweak or two to quarterback Peyton Manning’s contract could add some additional room.

They would also add a little more room if they get the long-term deal done for Thomas the two sides have been unable to complete to this point. But after Thomas and Dez Bryant get the franchise player tags by Monday’s deadline, and perhaps Jeremy Maclin and Michael Crabtree sign, the market gets defined a little better and the chances to find common ground for Demaryius Thomas and the Broncos improves.

All in all, however, that’s enough cap room for the Broncos to take a spin in the early frenzied days of free agency to sign a guard, center and tight end, the three most likely positions to get their attention this time around.

And free agents, because they are known commodities, often generate more buzz in the workaday world than the draft. The draft is potential, it’s an unknown in many ways, so folks are going to want to talk about free agency.

But whether the Broncos compete for trophies over the long term or not will always depend more on what gets done in April and May every year far more than what they do in March.

“The draft will always be the base for what we do,’’ Elway said. “That’s the approach. We’re always going to try to get players who improve our roster, who are better, who help us improve. But it has to make sense and we will always prefer we’re bringing guys along, who know what it is to be a Denver Bronco. We like good players in free agency and we’ve signed guys like that, good players who help us be a better team. But you have your core people and build around it.’’

Manning’s signing will always be the free-agent acquisition that tops any list made for the Broncos from now until, well, forever. But a Hall of Fame quarterback with elite football left in the tank on the open market is not something that had really been seen before and it would be shocking to see it again at any point in the reasonably near future.

So, that’s not the gauge. And no question the Broncos played the free-agency market about as well as it can be done a year ago. They signed four marquee free agents – Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware, T.J. Ward and Emmanuel Sanders – and all four played in the Pro Bowl.

But key to remember is three of the four were 28 years old or younger when they signed the deals and two – Ward and Sanders – were signing just their second NFL contract.

That’s how to work free agency on long-term deals. To do it any other way is to invite cap trouble and a thin depth chart as a team watches the dead money pile up – those salary-cap charges for players who are no longer on a team’s roster.

For the upcoming season, the Broncos’ biggest dead-money charge at the moment is $812,500 for kicker Matt Prater. So, they have succeeded in avoiding that to this point, and the key for them moving forward is to have the free-agency discipline and the draft success to avoid it in the future.

Because often teams approach free agency as a way to try to repair their draft mistakes, to fill those roster holes they have not filled from within. And as the annual confetti tosses begin for teams who “win’’ free agency in March and then go on to eventually miss the playoffs, it’s probably a good time for a reminder.

In 2014, the Broncos’ leading rusher (C.J. Anderson) was a player the team signed as an undrafted rookie, their leading receiver (Thomas) was a first-round pick by the team in 2010, their leading tackler (Brandon Marshall) was a waiver claim who spent almost a full season on the Broncos’ practice squad, their best defender in coverage (Chris Harris Jr.) was signed as an undrafted rookie in 2011 and their sacks leader (Von Miller) was their first-round pick in 2011.

In short, the Broncos can certainly help themselves, again, over the next two weeks, but the players they sign will be the bonus, not the foundation.