Broncos reach agreement with Dumervil, release him due to missed deadline
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Defensive end Elvis Dumervil had agreed to take a pay cut to stay with the Denver Broncos, but the deal was signed too late, and the NFL deadline was missed according to FOX31 Denver’s Raul Martinez.
Therefore, Dumervil will become a free agent. It was not immediately clear if the Broncos would try to resign him.
“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,” says Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway. “At this moment, we are discussing all of our free-agency options to determine what’s best for the Denver Broncos.”
The team released a statement from Elway that gives a blow-by-blow of what happened form the team’s perspective. He says the final contract proposal was presented to Dumervil at 11 a.m. Friday.
“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,” Elway says. “Our deadline was clearly communicated to Elvis’ representative.”
“At 1 p.m. MDT, we were informed by Elvis’ representative that he declined our offer. We then prepared Elvis’ termination notice to officially file his release with the NFL office.”
“At approximately 1:25 p.m. MDT, however, we were informed that Elvis changed his mind and accepted the same contract we proposed nearly two-and-a-half hours earlier. Although we expressed our concern regarding the time constraints, we were assured that the signed documents would be submitted to us before the league’s waiver deadline.”
“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.”
Dumervil, a three-time Pro Bowler, signed a six-year $61.5 million contract extension after a 17-sack 2009 season to keep him with the Broncos through 2015. However, after missing the entire 2010 season due to injury, Dumervil saw his sack numbers trail off to 9.5 in 2011 and 11 this past year.
That decrease came despite the presence of Vonn Miller, whose solid pass rush opposite Dumervil forced most teams to take away the double teams the seventh-year pro was previously accustomed to facing.
The contract Dumervil signed in 2010 was due to pay him $12 million in 2013, but he had instead agreed to a $7.5 million contract for this upcoming season, according to Martinez.
That contract became null and void when the team filed the paperwork after the 1:59 p.m. deadline, and the Broncos were therefore forced to release him.
In spite of the issues with Dumervil, the Broncos still came up with an impressive free agent haul. It included the signing of wide receiver Wes Welker, offensive lineman Louis Vasquez, cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, defensive tackle Terrance Knighton and linebacker Stewart Bradley.
