As the 24-hour news cycle centered on the strange Antonio Brown saga in Oakland, the Broncos quietly made moves that offered the loudest message yet about one of their star players and their approach for the future.



The team restructured the contract of veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, converting $17 million of his $18.5 million salary for 2019 into a signing bonus, and tacking on two years that will automatically void. Doing so cleared $13.6 million in cap space for this season, giving the Broncos immediate flexibility as they weigh possibly extending the contracts of some players, such as their 2016 draft picks or other veterans who will become free agents in March.



But it also ensured the Broncos will be financially tied to him to some degree in the last two years of his deal. Flacco’s base salaries remain unchanged in 2020 and 2021, but the proration of the signing bonus inflates his dead money values — money that will count against the team’s cap...