Broncos release A.J. Bouye and clear a nice chunk of cap space

The Denver Broncos have released A.J. Bouye, with the added benefit of clearing a nice chunk of cap space.

Last offseason, as part of their housecleaning of expensive veterans, the Jacksonville Jaguars sent A.J. Bouye to the Denver Broncos. On Wednesday, according to Mike Klis of 9 News and others, the Broncos have released the veteran cornerback.

Bouye played in just seven games during his lone season with the Broncos, registering 23 total tackles, six pass breakups and zero interceptions. He missed time with a concussion and a shoulder issue, before finishing the campaign on a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy. He’ll have two games left to serve next season.

Cutting A.J. Bouye clears cap space for Broncos

When they acquired Bouye, the Broncos also took on the final two years of the five-year, $67.5 million deal he signed with the Jaguars in 2017. His performance when he was on the field didn’t justify keeping him on a $13.2 million cap number for 2021. According to Over The Cap, Denver will clear that entire $13.218 million cap hit from their books with the move to cut him.

With the NFL salary cap set to drop into the $180 million range for 2021, teams will be making a lot of these type of decisions to cut expensive, underachieving veterans. The Broncos weren’t in too bad a shape, with $19.5 million in cap space based on a $180.5 million cap projection. But after cutting Bouye, they’ll push themselves into the top-10 of the league in cap space.

The Broncos are clearly involved in the quarterback market, as they look to find someone better than Drew Lock (or at least someone more ready to win now). They made an offer for Matthew Stafford, and Deshaun Watson apparently named them as a team he’d be open to going to. Having a lot more cap space with one easy move will allow for broad and realistic involvement in the offseason quarterback carousel.