Im not really sure who posted it first but news certainly spread quickly that Denver is considering moving on from Elivs Dumervil if he does not take a paycut. We discussed this very topic yesterday with Pro Football Focus on their podcast with Denver bringing up the possibility of bringing in Dwight Freeney either as more leverage to negotiate a paycut for Dumervil or a way to release him outright.

The Broncos have a ton of leverage in this situation. They have done a masterful job of crafting their contracts to eliminate large amounts of dead money which gives them maximum flexibility and power over their players. Dumervil received a $2.538 million dollar signing bonus in 2010 and a prorated salary advance of $6 million in 2011. His dead money on the season is only $4.869 million meaning the Broncos will gain $8.754 million in cap room by releasing him. Essentially if Dumervil wants to stay he has to make it worthwhile for the Broncos to believe his performance justifies the cap allocation. Based on my own metrics I keep Dumervil was more productive as a pass rusher than Freeney and is younger, but if you can get Freeney on a deal that costs $6-7 million a year less than Dumervil the Broncos would make that move in a heartbeat.

Dumervil is slated to earn $12 million in cash this season which is currently guaranteed only for injury. Being that Dumervil is not injured that means that guarantee is worthless. His salary does become fully guaranteed if he is on the roster on March 17th so any decision will need to be made before that date.

Here is a look at Dumervil’s cap charges on his current contract.

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