May 2: Starting his fourth year this season defensive tackle Sylvester Williams does not receive a fifth year on his contract. According to the 2011 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) the Broncos had the option, by May 3, to pick up the fifth year of the 2013 first-round draft pick’s contract at an estimated $6.757 million.

Texting the Denver Post Williams responded to the news: “In my heart I feel that was best for me, one being because I’ll become a free agent at 28 instead of 29,” Williams said via text. “And two, this is gonna be my best year and with [line coach] Bill [Kollar] and [defensive coordinator] Wade [Phillips] I’ll only get better.” Elway also told the Denver Post that the team was happy with Williams’ 2015 season performance but that it did not warrant the option-year salary.

Williams was the number 28 overall selection that year. Of those who were picked in the top half of the first round, only 50 percent were given a fifth-year of their contract. These picks averaged $7.9 million for the option year. But 62.5 percent of the bottom half players had their option year exercised with at nearly an identical average payout of $7.6 million. Of the 32 first-round picks only four will receive at least $10 million in 2017.

2013 first-round draft picks

who did not receive fifth contract year from team

2013 first-round draft picks

who did receive fifth contract year from team

May 2: Free safety Ryan Murphy is waived. Apparently three days after being selected in the third round of the NFL draft, Justin Simmons replaces Murphy as a backup to Darian Stewart. Murphy was sent home during Super Bowl week last February, but prior to the actual game, after he was discovered to be involved in a police sting of prostitution in San Jose, Calif.

May 2: Miller is eliminated from the ABC Television Network’s “Dancing with the Stars” reality show. May 4: veteran tight end Richard Gordon is waived for the second time by the Broncos. This latest stint was only for nine weeks during the off-season. His departure adds $600,000 to the salary cap space.

May 4: At a huge fan question-and-answer session in a Denver-area King Soopers supermarket, Miller tells Denver Post‘s Cameron Wolfe that he no worries about concluding his long-term contract negotiations with the team: May 5: Elway speaks with Denver Sports Radio 760’s Dave Logan and Suzie Wargin : “Now that the draft is over we’ll get back to work on [Von Miller’s contract]. Hopefully, we can get Von in here soon, we want Von to be a Bronco for life, too.” Elway also says: “”We have seven tremendous scouts who do a great job and work their tails off.” Elway also talks about the prospect of Lynch starting at QB soon: Is that going to happen tomorrow? Probably not, but you never know when it can happen. We think he’s going to be ready quicker than a lot of people think. He’s a young guy with tremendous athletic ability, he’s got the strong arm, can make all the throws, he’s smart, and he’s a guy that can fit into this offense real well. May 6: UDFA Kyle Kragen is signed as an outside linebacker. The former California Golden Bear is the son of Greg Kragen, who played as a pro-bowler Broncos nose tackle under Phillips.

May 6-8: the eight draftees and 21 UDFAs workout during the three-day post-draft rookie minicamp. Kubiak spends most of of the first day interacting with Lynch. “We’ve got to make a lot of progress. Just watching today, he’s swimming,” observes Kubiak. Lynch took snaps almost entirely under center. For the last three years at Memphis, Lynch used the shotgun. Kubiak adds, “I think this guy is going to make up a lot ground very quickly. He’s very eager. He’s got some very good characteristics.” Addressing the importance of recruiting UDFAs, Kubiak says, [UDFAs wide receiver] Bennie [Fowler] [center] Matt Paradis, and [outside linebacker] Shaq [Barrett] were in this camp. Somebody is coming out of this camp that will help our football team this year, too. I don’t know who it’s going to be, but there will be some prizes out of this group, too. Kubiak explains why the Broncos did not draft or trade for an inside linebacker: We’ve got a lot of confidence in Todd [Davis] and Corey Nelson]. Obviously B-Marsh [ILB Brandon Marshall] is a great player for us. Zaire [Anderson] has come a long way. He’s out here operating out here like a veteran. We have a lot of confidence in those guys. They’re having a great offseason. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips likes the versatility of his new crop of defenders: One of the relatively unknown players drafted by the Broncos, fullback Janovich is expected to make a big impact both on offense and special teams. Former/current Broncos

who became free agents since Super Bowl 50 May 9: Rookie Football Development Program begins.

May 10: Broncos claim New Orleans Saints fullback Toben Opurum off waivers and waived tight end Anthony Norris.

May 12: Opurum is waived by Broncos after failing physical. NFL deadline passes for requiring 2017 compensatory picks for signing veteran free agents.

May 13: Simmons, Booker, Janovich, Parks, and Dixon have signed their rookie contracts with the Broncos. That leaves Lynch, Gotsis, and McGovern left unsigned.

May 16: veteran free agent Dekoda Watson signs with Broncos. He adds depth to both inside and outside linebacker positions. "It's official now. Just ready to work."https://t.co/56jt56sveW — Denver Broncos (@Broncos) May 14, 2016 Here is my very preliminary depth chart of the full 90-man roster post rookie mini camp. Future timeline May – June: the re-signing of inside linebacker Brandon Marshall. I forecast that his annual compensation average will be $6 million nearly matching Danny Trevathan’s new contract with the Chicago Bears. Here is a comparison of my estimate for Marshall’s long-term contract with five other inside linebackers who had similar 2015 totals for combined tackles. June 15: deadline for Broncos to withdraw its qualifying offer to Marshall and still retain exclusive negotiating rights per CBA by substituting “June 15 Tender” of one-year contract set at $2.81 million, 10 percent higher than prior offer.

May – June: the re-signing of receiver Emmanuel Sanders. My prediction is an average compensation of $12 million annually, matching the average pay of receivers T.Y Hilton and Jeremy Maclin. Here are compensation comparison for receivers who have had very similar 2015 total receiving yards. Emmanuel Sanders posted this Instagram video of ESPN commentators: 88+10 A video posted by Emmanuel Sanders (@emmanuelsanders) on May 5, 2016 at 12:06pm PDT May – June: the re-signing of outside linebacker Von Miller for a predicted $19.5 million per year. Here is how my forecasted contract terms compare with the five highest paid NFL defenders: Miller has missed the first two phases of the Broncos’ voluntary workouts. According Denver Post‘s Nicki Jhabvala , he said this to alleviate concerns of about the protracted negotiations: My teammates know what type of teammate I am. They know what type of guy I am. It’s just the business part of it. There’s really no hard feelings or anything like that. [The Broncos] know what type of guy I am. This table shows that the Broncos are already top heavy by allocating 31.34 percent of it salary cap to its top four highest paid players, Thomas, Miller and corner backs Aquib Talib and Chris Harris Jr. Salary cap hits of four highest paid player by team The most straightforward way to make room for Miller’s long-term contract is for Miller and Thomas to swap salary cap places. If Thomas’ current base salary is restructured to his veteran minimum of $6.02 million, then the remainder of $9.18 million is pushed into a signing bonus that pro-rates over the remaining four years of his contract. According the Spotrac.com, the Broncos are in a good cash position ranking at 17 of 32 teams with $72.49 million committed to contract guaranteed outlays to players. But there is one of many alternative approaches that forego changing Thomas’ contract. It involves using signing, option, and roster bonuses. Signing bonuses are pro-rated over the entire contract years. Option bonuses are pro-rated over the initial and remaining years of the contract. Roster bonuses are paid in full in the year incurred. This table (in millions of dollars) shows the bread down of my estimated compensation for the three players. The figure in red are guaranteed monies. In practice many players’ contracts have “Likely to be Earned” (LTBE) and “Not Likely to be Earned” (NLTBE) incentives which are based on the players’ pervious year performance. If a running back has an incentive to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and he had 1,000 yards the season before, the incentive is LTBE and counts against the current year’s salary cap. But if he gained fewer than 1,000 yards previously, the incentive is NLTBE and would not be charged against the current cap. If he does not earn an LTBE incentive then the money is credited to the his team’s cap next season. And if he does achieve an NLTBE incentive the proceeds count against the following year’s salary cap. Many roster spots will be competitively determined over the course of OTAs, training camp, and the preseason games. Here are the prime competitions:

Selection of starting quarterback among Mark Sanchez, Paxton Lynch, and Trevor Siemian.

Sanchez is well-suited for Kubiak’s zone blocking, one-cut running schemes. Lynch will most likely spend the first part of the season as a back up learning the pro game, especially taking snaps under center. A question is how Siemian will get enough practice snaps to continue his development. Kubiak says this about the learning curve Lynch faces,

[In] college football there is a lot of no-huddle on the ball. Guys have menus, what they call menus, so they’re not really calling plays. I don’t see that as that big of a difference. [But there is a] lot more verbiage in what we’re doing. Just watching him today, I think he’ll catch up quickly.

Determination of interior linebacker replacements for Danny Trevathan among Davis, Corey Nelson, and Zaire Anderson.

Davis and Nelson have considerable experience as back ups. Davis has the edge at start for now. Anderson’s size is better suited for strong safety, but he has bulked up as a Bronco having played on the practice squad last year. All three are very hard working, smart, and aggressive tacklers.

Allocation of playing time between defensive ends Vance Walker and Gotsis.

These two players jointly will replace Jackson at defensive end. Walker is an experienced backup. Second-round pick Australian Gotsis is recovering from an ACL knee injury. He is expected to be at full strength in September. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips thoughts about Gotsis at a May 7 new conference,

Sometimes with foreign players we’ve seen that sometimes they really look great, they can run fast and they’re big and strong, but it doesn’t carry over to American football. This kid has very good instincts. He finds the ball really well. He’s a brute on the field. He’s very physical. He’s adapted to American-style football really well. He started as a freshman at Georgia Tech and he had never really played—he played club ball there for a couple years. It’s something that you don’t normally see. I think he’s just like any high-round pick. You expect him to come in and help you this year.

Rotation order of running backs C.J. Anderson, Hillman, and Booker.

Anderson signed a four-year contract worth $18 million. Hillman’s has a one-year deal for up to $2 million. Fourth-round pick Booker is successfully recovering from a torn meniscus in his knee. Says offensive coordinator Rick Dennison,

[Booker] a good, strong runner and a tough player. He just did a good job. We threw him out there after one meeting and it was just a walkthrough. I think he just gives us a good chance to play [him]. He’s a good football player. We like to add good football players and see which ones play.

Settlement of offensive line starters and backups. Two key players are recovering from serious injuries.

Broncos 2015 second-round draft pick Sambrailo had played in three games last season when he tore his labrum in the match against the Detroit Lions on September 27. With complications of bone spurs in the shoulder he was placed on injured reserve. Sambrailo is expected be a guard this season.

Okung suffered a dislocated shoulder in his last game for the Seahawks during the NFC divisional-playoff match with the Carolina Panthers. Okung’s Broncos contract has substantial incentives for him to make the roster in September and to start at left tackle throughout the season. Per Pro Football Reference, Okung has never played in all 16 regular season games for any of his six years in the NFL.

About fifth-round pick guard McGovern, Dennison says,

He’s a good football player. A tough guy, a smart guy. He tested really well when he went to Indy (for the NFL Combine). He played out at left tackle last year but that’s not where we’re going to play him. We’ll play him inside and see how it goes. He’s a big, strong guy and he seems to understand football.

Dennison commented about the offensive line overall,

We’re starting with some guys, we’ll find a good five and we’ll let it go. We’ll have some new pieces but they work extremely hard. The veterans that we’ve had the last couple of weeks are no different. As long as they are working hard and trying to get better—that kind of exemplified our team last year. We were grinders. They may not have been perfect but they worked hard and tried to make it as good as we could. Persistence was our key.

Identification of the punter between veteran Colquitt and seventh-round pick Dixon.

Because Colquitt is scheduled to earn a $4 million base salary, called collective bargaining agreement paragraph 5 (P5), in 2016, he is vulnerable to be waived by the last week of preseason. If so, his departure will create $3.25 million of salary cap space, leaving $750,000 in dead money. Says special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis said in the May 7 news conference,

[By drafting Dixon,] we obviously see a good player [in him]. We had some inside information, too, because [Special Teams Coaching Assistant] Chris Gould is here. He was there with him at Syracuse. We had some real good information on the kid. We think he’s got a chance to be a real good punter in the National Football League and that’s why we took him. People were railing on [punter] Britton [Colquitt], but I can tell you one thing, there wasn’t a better guy in the playoffs. It’s going to be a heck of a competition.

Designation of punt and kick returners among the crew of 11 receivers.

Initially undrafted free agents (UDFAs) Kalif Raymond and Bralon Addison have the inside track of winning one or both of these slots. Last season Emmanuel Sanders was the punt returner most of the time. However Norwood’s punt return set a record in in the Bronco’s Super Bowl win. Caldwell most recently was the team’s kick returner but as a free agent he signed with the Lions. DeCamillis explains,

Jordan [Norwood] came in and had the big return in the Super Bowl. That’s going to help us coming back with him. Out of this group [of UDFAs], we have a couple [of good prospects]. Kalif Raymond is a kid that we like from Holy Cross. He’s a smaller guy, but he’s got great speed and we think he’s got chance to compete. Barlon Addison is another. He’s from Oregon. Probably not as fast as Kalif, but he’s got a real good chance, too. We’ve got some competition. We’ll see how it shakes out.

Selection of a long snapper between college free agent Nathan Theus and just signed Casey Kreiter.

One of these two will replace long-time snapper Aaron Brewster who was released on March 8. He re-united with former Broncos coach and current Chicago Bears coach John Fox. DeCamillis comments,

The biggest thing is obviously the snap. We want to see good rotation on the ball every time. The biggest issue with snappers—and really it happens in college or it doesn’t happen in college—is the protection part of it. That’s what we really have to see from these guys in camp. We’re going to try and stress it as much as we can because every time we line up for a punt there is a possibility of a rush. We’ve got to make sure that they can protect. We’ll see from OTAs and go from there.