In time, it will come out exactly who is at fault or if a ploy was in play, but 35 minutes after agreeing to restructure defensive end Elvis Dumervil’s contract, the Denver Broncos released the star player because the team did not receive the signed new deal from his agent by the 4 p.m. EST deadline.
The Broncos had to cut Dumervil at that point or pay him his $12-million salary that would have been guaranteed if he was not let go by the deadline.
So, questions are raised: Was it just a clerical error that caused the signed contract for the pay reduction to $8 million to get to Denver at 4:06 p.m.? Or was it a ploy by Dumervil’s agent to force the Broncos to either release him or pay him the $12 million?
According to a source who spoke to the Denver Post, both parties reached agreement at 3:25 p.m. ET on the restructured contract. But it did not come in time. Previously, Broncos team president John Elway called Dumervil’s contract “out of whack.”
“It’s not all about dollars. But when it’s way out of whack? Then it’s so out of whack that you’ve got to say: ‘That [salary] can’t be it,'” Elway said Thursday, according to the Denver Post. “Especially when you look at the market and what’s out there now. Hopefully, he realizes that.”
Dumervil signed a six-year, $61.5 million contract in 2010, when Josh McDaniels was coaching the team and before Elway joined the Denver front office.
Dumervil had 11 sacks last season, second on the team behind Von Miller. Dumervil led the league with 17 sacks in 2009.
Though the parties had agreed on a deal, the odds of Dumervil returning to Denver are hampered because cutting him could leave them with a salary cap hit of up to nearly $5 million.
The Broncos need more cap space while trying to shore up their interior defensive line, cornerback and running back positions. Peyton Manning will earn $20 million in 2013, and if the Broncos had Dumervil play at his previous salary, those two would have accounted for more than one-quarter of their cap space.
Among the pass-rushers on the market this season is Manning’s former teammate with the Colts, Dwight Freeney.
