John Elway and the Denver Broncos have released a statement regarding the timing mix-up that allowed defensive end Elvis Dumervil to become an unrestricted free-agent on Friday evening.
Elvis Dumervil release: John Elway, Broncos release statement
The Denver Broncos claim that Elvis Dumervil was aware of changes in his contract for the past week and placed the blame for his release from the team at his feet.
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The Broncos wished to change the financial terms of Dumervil’s contract, which he ultimately accepted, but the signed contract arrived after the 4 p.m. ET hard deadline for free agents.
Dumervil’s agent Marty Magid claimed the Broncos made last-minute changes to the contract offer, which accounted for the delay. Elway countered in his statement, saying that Dumervil’s camp was well aware of contract changes and imposed a personal deadline of 3 p.m. ET to ensure that the paperwork was in order.
“For the last week, Elvis Dumervil and his agent were aware of our desire to change the financial terms of his contract to ensure he would remain a Denver Bronco. After numerous conversations with both Elvis and his representative, we submitted our final contract proposal to Elvis today at 11 a.m. MDT. Based on our previous discussions, we believed our offer was fair and were hopeful it would resolve this matter.”
“Due to the procedural elements that were involved in executing the new proposal, we imposed a 1 p.m. MDT deadline for a decision, one hour before the NFL’s waiver wire at 2 p.m. MDT. Our deadline was clearly communicated to Elvis’ representative.”
Elway’s statement claims that representatives of Dumervil declined the contract at the deadline set by the Broncos. The Broncos began to prepare the paperwork to officially notify the NFL office of his release, only to hear that Dumervil had changed his mind and would be sending over the signed documents.
”We did not receive the documents from Elvis by the league’s deadline and were forced to release him shortly before 2 p.m. MDT.
“Due to this situation, there are now salary cap implications associated with this transaction that we must consider with regard to potentially re-signing Elvis. At this moment, we are discussing all of our free-agency options to determine what’s best for the Denver Broncos.”
Now that Dumervil is an unrestricted free agent, the Broncos will have a host of other teams to compete with for one of the better pass rushers available on the open market. The timing mishap dealt a blow to the Broncos’ salary cap space, and it remains to be seen if they will be able to come to terms with a new deal.
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