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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos have hired former sports agent Rich Hurtado as the team's new lead contract negotiator, completing general manager John Elway's major shakeup of his personnel department. Hurtado's duties as the Broncos' vice president of football administration are the "three Cs" -- managing the team's salary cap, negotiating player contracts and ensuring the club's compliance with the NFL's collective bargaining agreement. Hurtado's hiring follows the team's recent decision not to renew salary cap director Mike Sullivan's contract after nearly eight years with the team. Hurtado has 15 years of experience negotiating contracts as a team executive or player agent. He spent the last 11 years as an agent/executive for Creative Artists Agency after spending four seasons in football administration with the Philadelphia Eagles. Hurtado, who graduated from the University of Florida in 1996 and earned his master's degree from Dartmouth College 10 years later, steps into a busy offseason in Denver. The Broncos have almost $62 million in cap space, a figure that's expected to balloon if quarterback Joe Flacco and offensive lineman Ron Leary don't return in 2020. Key contract decisions looming for the Broncos heading into the start of free agency on March 18 include star DBs Justin Simmons and Chris Harris Jr. and defensive ends Derek Wolfe and Shelby Harris. --- Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton --- More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP-NFL
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