Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Update of Broncos' salary cap status

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos will keep their eyes open on the still-available free agents, but as they move toward the draft, their salary cap situation remains slightly snug with at least some room to work.

With about $4 million in functional cap space -- executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway consistently has said "I don’t like to work right at the nub, you need room to cover what happens" -- the Broncos can make 10 selections in the draft without any roster adjustments.

As of Friday afternoon, the NFL Players Association puts the Broncos' cap at $10.895 million. The salary cap for each team this season is $143.28 million plus any additional rollover of cap space from last season; that amount varies team-to-team and the Broncos had $5.87 million of rollover cap space.

At the moment, teams count just their top 51 salary cap figures -- they don’t count all 53 until the final roster cut-down before the regular season -- as rosters can be 90 players when teams report to training camp this summer. After signing guard/center Shelley Smith, the Broncos have 72 players under contract.

Their NFLPA figure doesn’t include a 10-player draft class for the Broncos, which overall would be a draft pool of just under $6 million. Teams must have the cap room to cover their draft pool before they are allowed to select any players.

By the time the regular season begins, the Broncos also must have enough cap room to cover any prospect injuries as well. Players who end up on injured reserve count against the salary cap during the season.

So if a player with one of their highest cap figures suffered a season-ending injury, it would take some work on the Broncos' part financially. Currently quarterback Peyton Manning ($17.5 million), wide receiver Demaryius Thomas ($12.823 million), tackle Ryan Clady ($10.6 million) and linebacker Von Miller ($9.74 million) have the team’s highest cap charges.

The Broncos currently are working toward a long-term deal with Thomas, and Elway repeatedly has said he hopes to have something done by July 15, which is the deadline for teams to finalize long-term contracts for players who have the franchise player tag.

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