Next up, veteran offensive lineman Ron Leary. Should the Broncos keep or cut? Let’s take a look.
***
Eight is More Than Enough
The Broncos are looking to make a splash in free agency, and they have plenty of salary cap space to do just that this offseason. However, by getting rid of Leary, they could get even more room to maneuver.
Leary has a cap number of $9.3 million in 2020, but there is less than $1 million remaining in dead money. That means the Broncos could free up more than $8 million in cap space if they were to release the veteran.
There is an argument for keeping Leary, which I will make in the rest of this article, but freeing up that much money could help the Broncos perhaps keep their own free agents that many think are getting away. Keeping Leary might be worth it, but is it better to let him go to free up $8 million and then take that money to potentially keep guys like Derek Wolfe or Chris Harris Jr.?
The answer is easy for me, but it’s one the Broncos must consider all sides before making a final decision. When the Broncos signed Leary to a four-year contract as a free agent back in 2017, this final year was seen as one where he would not be with the team. We’ll see if that’s actually going to be the case.
Right guard is where Leary has been starting since he’s been with the Broncos. He is a fine starter, but he has not played a full 16-game season during his time with the Broncos. In fact, Leary has only played a full season (2013) once in his career and it was the first year he was active in the pros. If the team does keep Leary around, they need to have a quality plan in place if (when?) Leary misses more time due to injury.
Undrafted out of Memphis in 2012 due to a degenerative left knee condition, Leary was graded by most in the scouting community as a third-round pick. The talent was always there with Leary and that’s why the Cowboys picked him up. It was just a matter of how long he would be able to play due to the knee issue. He was a rare player from the standpoint that he could fit in multiple schemes. With the Cowboys, Leary was all about power, but you could see the athleticism was there for him to do more.
Leary is huge at 320 pounds and he used to be athletic enough to work in a zone system, and that’s what made him an effective starter when he was healthy. However, at this advanced age Leary is merely a power player – and that works in his favor if the Broncos decide to keep him.