JULY 30: Powers’ latest one-year agreement accommodates $5MM in guarantees, Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post reports. Most of that consists of a reduced base salary, together with a $500K signing bonus and $850K in per-game roster bonuses. An extra $2MM could be made up via incentives. A maximum of $8MM in earnings (with the bottom value of the deal being $6MM) would indeed qualify as starter money, but this represents a noteworthy reduction in pay. Powers’ cap charge has also been lowered from $18.2MM to $10.6MM.
JULY 27: After playing his third season with the Broncos in 2025, left guard Ben Powers got here up as a trade/release candidate over the winter. As Broncos veterans prepare to report back to training camp on Tuesday, Powers remains to be on their roster. But it surely seems the seven-year veteran recently took a “significant” pay cut, based on Mike Klis of 9News.
Powers, who played his college ball at Oklahoma, entered the NFL as a Ravens fourth-round pick in 2019. He became a full-time starter in his third season but left for Denver after playing out his four-year rookie contract. Powers inked a way more expensive four-year deal in 2023 with the Broncos, who reeled him in with a $52MM offer.
Now entering the last season of his pact with the Broncos, Powers had been in line to earn a non-guaranteed $13MM. While Powers will rake in lower than that after accepting a discount in pay, the agreement comes with more guarantees, Klis reports. A source told Klis that the soon-to-be 30-year-old Powers will proceed to make “starter” money in 2026.
Powers entered 2025 off three straight 17-start campaigns, but he was unable to remain healthy during a 14-win season for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. He tore his biceps in a Week 5 win over the Eagles, resulting in a two-month, nine-game absence. Powers returned for a Week 16 meeting with the Jaguars, but he suffered a Lisfranc injury in a 34-20 loss. That issue had gone unreported until Monday, as Powers played through it for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs. He was on the sphere for all the Broncos’ offensive snaps of their divisional-round win over the Bills and their AFC title game loss to the Patriots.
Powers underwent an MRI on his foot after the Broncos’ season ended. It confirmed the Lisfranc injury, which required offseason surgery, Klis relays. While recovering from that procedure, Powers missed the Broncos’ offseason program. He’ll now go into camp and the preseason fighting to maintain his job, which just isn’t a guarantee despite the pay cut.
Alex Palczewski, who filled in for Powers last yr, will compete for the starting spot. The Broncos re-signed Palczewski to a two-year, $9.5MM contract in restricted free agency, they usually see him as a future starter. So, even when Palczewski doesn’t take over for Powers this yr, that will be the direction the Broncos go in 2027.