McDaniels cleans up Shanahan’s cap mess

Mike Shanahan has moved on to Washington, but he left quite a financial mess for Josh McDaniels and company in Dove Valley (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Josh McDaniels inherited a number of messes when he became Denver Broncos head coach, but perhaps none were as dramatic as the amount of “dead money” on the Broncos salary cap. Denver led the league — by a number of degrees — with $29.5 million in dead cap money in 2009.

One year later, consider Mike Shanahan‘s multi-million dollar mess cleaned up. From Woody Paige’s latest mailbag in the Denver Post —

Actually, the Broncos have about $1.5 million in dead money this season. Last year they led the league only in dead money — approximately $29.5 million. That amount cut deeply in the Broncos’ ability to sign free agents last year because it counted as almost a quarter of the $128 million salary cap for the team.

As Hardy used to say to Laurel (way before your father’s time, Jason): “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.” Thank you, Mike Shanahan.

We were as big of Shanahan fans as anybody, but there’s no denying “The Mastermind” hadn’t quite “mastered” professional football economics. Josh and GM Brian Xanders cleaned up the Broncos’ cap while still bringing in the likes of Brian Dawkins, Jabar Gaffney, and Jamal Williams through free agency. Job well done, fellas.

Woody’s Mailbag: Broncos’ hopes all in the names dropping in 2010 [Denver Post]