ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- After the initial wave of free agency dispersed some of the available salary cap space around the league, ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert showed the impact of the new deals on the league's pay structure at each position.

And an extended look at those new deals, as well as the Denver Broncos' current salary structure, shows just how quickly things can change as the cap keeps rising -- it's $167 million per team this year. By comparison when the Broncos dove into the big-ticket aisle of free agency in 2014, waving their checkbook with some vigor, the salary cap was $133 million per team.

Crunch the numbers, and with the most of the biggest deals likely done in this round of free agency, the defensive-minded Broncos have just one position where they place two players among the league's top 10 contracts at that position -- wide receiver.

Yes, in terms of average per year, Demaryius Thomas has the No. 4 deal at the position in the league with the contract he signed in July of 2015 -- $14 million per year average. His $12.03 million cap hit is the second-highest on the team for 2017. Emmanuel Sanders, who signed his new deal last September, comes in at No. 10 in the league in terms of average per year -- $11 million per year.

That's a significant commitment at that position for a team whose passing game struggled at times because of its troubles in the offensive line. The two combined for 169 of the Broncos' 339 receptions last season -- 49.9 percent -- as they each topped 1,000 yards receiving. It was Thomas' fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season and Sanders' third consecutive 1,000-yard season.

Linebacker Von Miller, who signed his six-year, $114.5 million deal last July, is still the highest paid linebacker in the league even after this year's new deals are added to the mix, as well as highest-paid defensive player overall at $19.083 million per year. Miller is a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate for one of the league's best defenses and carries a team-high $20.4 million cap hit for the 2017 season.

Somewhat surprisingly neither of the Broncos' Pro Bowl cornerbacks -- Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib -- are among the top 10 deals any longer. Talib signed a six-year, $57 million deal in 2014 and Harris signed a five-year, $42.5 million deal in December of 2014.

But the cornerback market has exploded since they signed those deals as the demand is always greater in a pass-first league than supply. Trumaine Johnson does not have the résumé of either Talib or Harris, but he's been tagged as a franchise player twice in the last two years by the Rams and just signed a deal that averages $16.74 million per year.

A.J. Bouye, who has been a full-time starter for one season, is No. 6 among the cornerbacks with his deal signed with the Jaguars in recent weeks that averages $13.5 million per year.

In all, the Broncos have four defensive players who have participated in the Pro Bowl over the last two years -- Harris, Talib as well as safeties T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart (he was an injury replacement at the Pro Bowl this past season) -- who are not among the top 10 highest-paid players at their position in the fast-changing pay-scales at defensive back.

Ward, however, is slated to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2017 season while Stewart signed a four-year, $28 million deal as the 2016 season drew to a close.