NFL Matchup: Denver Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers

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With Super Bowl 50 finally upon us, we'll take a quick look at how the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos matchup, financially. We've broken down the two teams in a variety of ways, including: Projected Starting Lineup Totals, a fully filterable Player Comparison tool (broken down by position, roster type, or money type), a visual look at how each team is spending their money Positionally, and a look at players from each team set to become unrestriced free agents next month.
Want even more? Let us know @spotrac

 

Starting Lineup Spending Comparison

We've compiled the cumulative 2015 Cap $, Average Annual Salary, and Career Earnings for the projected Super Bowl starting lineups. Somewhat shockingly, the Broncos and Panthers starting lineup pay is extremely close across the board, including just $2M in combined avg. salary, and $4M in combined 2015 cap.

DEN
Cap $
CAR
Cap $
DEN
Avg. Salary
CAR
Avg. Salary
DEN
Career Earnings
CAR
Career Earnings
Proj. Starters $99,650,056 $95,284,224 $110,150,128 $108,000,084 $591,810,030 $577,480,110
Starting Off. $51,921,883 $45,925,825 $52,007,841 $51,597,794 $374,535,591 $221,620,654
Starting Def. $44,868,173 $45,578,729 $53,784,954 $52,757,620 $206,109,668 $345,182,337

Super Bowl Roster Financial Player Comparison

Use this interactive tool to filter each starting lineup by position (Offense, QB, WR, Defensive line, etc), money type (Cap, AAV, Earnings), and roster type (53-Man Roster, Starting lineup). We've sorted the teams by position to show a player's direct comparison.

Notable Points

  • Only 6 starters carry a $10M+ average salary.
  • 12 players carry a cap hit less than $1M.
  • Peyton Manning's $246M in earnings is $19M more than the entire Panthers' starting offense has earned in their careers to date.

Cap Hit Denver Broncos Position Carolina Panthers Cap Hit

53-Man Roster Cap Spending by Positional Group

Quarterbacks
The Broncos hold a slight edge here, allocating $17.5M to Peyton Manning, and $1.1M toward Brock Osweiler's final rookie contract year. Newton accounts for $13M in 2015, but jumps to $19.5M in 2016.

Running Backs
Jonathan Stewart's $8.3M cap figure ranked 5th among all running backs in 2015, and is $7.35M more than any other running back figure in the Super Bowl.

Wide Receivers
Denver holds a huge lead here, with $22.6M allocated to their 6 active receivers. The Panthers have an astonishly low $6.2M cap dollars allocated to their 6 wideouts.

Tight Ends
Fairly even here, with Denver spreading out $7.4M fairly evenly among their three veterans, with Greg Olsen accounting for $6.3M of the Panthers' $8.1M TE cap dollars.

Offensive Linemen
Denver has 10 active offensive linemen, but just $13.3M cap dollars spent on them. Panthers' center Ryan Kalil accounts for $11.795M alone.

Defensive Linemen
Quite the opposite on this side of the ball. Carolina has a whopping $29.4M cap dollars spent to their 9 active defensive linemen. The Broncos carry just 6, and they accounted for just $9.2M against the 2015 cap.

Linebackers
$18.3M of the Broncos' $24M lineback cap dollars goes to Von Miller ($9.754M) and DeMarcus Ware ($8.6M). While the duo of Thomas Davis ($7.65M) and Luke Kuechly ($6.6M) accounts for 81% of the Panthers' LB cap.

Secondary
The Broncos have made it a priority to bolster their secondary in recent years, and their cap shows it. Their defensive backs account for $22.3M this seasons, compared to just $7.7M from the Panthers.

Special Teams
The Broncos have gone cheap on the kicker ($510k) and pricey on the punter ($2.35M), while the Panthers have done the opposite, spending $3.1M on Graham Gano, and $679k on Brad Nortman.

» View Positional Spending Breakdowns for all 2016 NFL teams

2016 Unrestricted Free Agents
The Broncos have 58 UFAs while the Panthers have 39 players set to hit the open market. *Projected SB starters shown in bold. Track all 2016 NFL Free Agents
Denver Broncos 2015 Cap Hit Carolina Panthers 2015 Cap Hit
JacksonMalik Jackson (DT, 26) $1,595,403 NormanJosh Norman (CB, 26) $1,591,750
OsweilerBrock Osweiler (QB, 25) $1,118,944 NortmanBrad Nortman (P, 25) $679,670
OkungRussell Okung (LT, 27) $7,280,000 SoliaiPaul Soliai (DT, 27) $4,400,000
TrevathanDanny Trevathan (ILB, 25) $1,568,018 GradkowskiGino Gradkowski (C, 25) $1,542,000
StephensonDonald Stephenson (LT, 27) $844,375 HarperRoman Harper (SS, 27) $1,800,000
BrutonDavid Bruton (SS, 28) $1,650,000 FinneganCortland Finnegan (CB, 28) $172,058
MathisEvan Mathis (G, 34) $2,921,875 ScifresMike Scifres (P, 34) $4,347,500
CrickJared Crick (DE, 26) $1,639,875 VelascoFernando Velasco (G, 26) $550,588
HarrisRyan Harris (LT, 30) $1,420,000 GriffinMichael Griffin (FS, 30) $8,100,000
DavisVernon Davis (TE, 32) $2,477,941 LoveKyle Love (DT, 32) $745,000
SanchezMark Sanchez (QB, 29) $3,750,000 BoykinBrandon Boykin (CB, 29) $1,542,000
ColquittBritton Colquitt (P, 30) $2,350,000 JohnsonLeonard Johnson (CB, 30) $155,294
SmithAntonio Smith (DE, 34) $2,000,000 ChandlerNate Chandler (LT, 34) $1,150,000
CaldwellAndre Caldwell (WR, 30) $1,550,000 WendellRyan Wendell (C, 30) $2,400,000
NorwoodJordan Norwood (WR, 29) $745,000 BrownStevie Brown (SS, 29) $0
GrahamGarrett Graham (TE, 29) $3,921,875 SilatoluAmini Silatolu (G, 29) $1,570,897
BoldenOmar Bolden (FS, 27) $778,607 ScifresMike Scifres (P, 27) $4,347,500
McCrayLerentee McCray (DE, 25) $515,668 EdwardsDwan Edwards (DT, 25) $1,750,000
HillmanRonnie Hillman (RB, 24) $942,708 CotcheryJerricho Cotchery (WR, 24) $1,950,000
MeltonHenry Melton (DT, 29) $3,750,000 GreenTyronne Green (G, 29) $585,000
WinnBilly Winn (DE, 26) $1,542,000 AlexanderFrank Alexander (DE, 26) $760,272
WilliamsKyle Williams (WR, 27) $348,000 HillStephen Hill (WR, 27) $594,500
WatsonDekoda Watson (OLB, 27) $43,823 MileyArthur Miley (DE, 27) $323,000
KeoShiloh Keo (SS, 28) $137,647 GarrettKeyarris Garrett (WR, 28) $0
RossBrandian Ross (CB, 26) $38,823 SimmonsJalen Simmons (RB, 26) $0
PhillipsJohn Phillips (TE, 28) $585,000 StoshakJenson Stoshak (WR, 28) $0
BrownMarlon Brown (WR, 24) $572,726 RichardsonShaquille Richardson (CB, 24) $0
VasquezLouis Vasquez (G, 28) $6,250,000 CapersAvius Capers (WR, 28) $0
DanielsOwen Daniels (TE, 33) $2,750,000 ByrdLaron Byrd (WR, 33) $0
GrahamGarrett Graham (TE, 29) $3,921,875 SmithWillie Smith (LT, 29) $0
MeltonHenry Melton (DT, 29) $3,750,000 BrownStevie Brown (SS, 29) $0
DavisAustin Davis (QB, 26) $966,666 WatersSwayze Waters (P, 26) $0
PolumbusTyler Polumbus (LT, 30) $481,764 RobinsonTrenton Robinson (FS, 30) $0
GordonRichard Gordon (TE, 28) $137,647 DrewRay Drew (DE, 28) $0
RossBrandian Ross (CB, 26) $38,823 DowlingRas-I Dowling (CB, 26) $0
BushJosh Bush (SS, 26) $194,117 FoucaultDavid Foucault (T, 26) $0
BrennerSam Brenner (C, 25) $210,000 CoxRakim Cox (DE, 25) $0
OpurumToben Opurum (DE, 25) $25,588 MasifiloMatthew Masifilo (G, 25) $0
KasaNick Kasa (TE, 25) $0 LucasMarcus Lucas (TE, 25) $0
DavisJace Davis (WR, 24) $0
LoweryB.J. Lowery (CB, 24) $0
PoseyDeVier Posey (WR, 25) $0
JohnsonWill Johnson (P, ) $0
NormanDwayne Norman (S, 22) $0
WeemsDarrion Weems (RT, 27) $0
JeffersonCameron Jefferson (T, 23) $0
GibsonMathu Gibson (G, ) $0
TaylorPhil Taylor (DT, 27) $0
GloverAntonio Glover (S, ) $0
TheusNathan Theus (LS, ) $0
NealDurron Neal (WR, ) $0
HeurtelouCalvin Heurtelou (DT, 22) $0
HansonLars Hanson (T, ) $0
ShannonFrank Shannon (OLB, ) $0
KohtLars Koht (DT, ) $0
TidwellJohn Tidwell (S, ) $0
RobertsKyle Roberts (T, 24) $0
UkoGeorge Uko (DT, 24) $0