The Denver Broncos made one of the loudest splashes at this year’s NFL free agency pool party on Thursday, March 14th, when they signed former New England Patriots’ perennial Pro Bowler and prolific pass-catcher, Wes Welker.
[caption id="attachment_292" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Wes Welker in the Denver spotlight. (Photo: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)"]
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- The deal is for $12 million over two years—not too high a price to pay for a man who caught 118 passes for 1,354 yards and 6 scores last season. Bouncing from one Hall of Fame quarterback to another, Welker should continue to be productive, this time not as Tom Brady’s possession receiver, but Peyton Manning’s. Welker’s departure from New England has been the most shocking for any player this offseason, as the 5’9” 190 lb slot man has been Tom Brady’s weapon of choice since joining the Patriots in 2007. Reportedly, Welker just couldn’t get past Brady’s obsession with UGGs.
Although the Broncos may struggle in the run game without a top tier tailback, Peyton Manning could enjoy his best season ever in 2013 (scary, right?), as he plays catch with the league’s best trio of wide receivers in Welker, Demaryius Thomas, and Eric Decker. Even teams that boast elite defensive backfields won’t be able to cover all three of those guys. Manning’s biggest conundrum next season will be choosing which wide-open player to target. Last year, Manning attempted 583 passes. Expect him to be closer to his career high (set in 2010 with the Colts) of 679 next season.
The Welker signing casts a shadow over another important addition to Denver in cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. On the same day they signed Welker, the Broncos inked Rodgers-Cromartie to a one-year, $5 million contract. This ball-hawking DB is excellent in zone coverage and may provide an extra lift in the return game. He may also prove to be a key substitute for 84-year-old Champ Bailey each time the veteran corner requires the assistance of a respirator.
[caption id="attachment_293" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Champ Bailey looks gassed. Get him some oxygen!"]
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Prior to the Rodgers-Cromartie signing, most experts and analysts assumed that Denver would target a cornerback as their first pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Xavier Rhodes of Florida State and Desmond Trufant of the University of Washington had been the two most popular names expected to be considered for the 28th pick this summer. With the addition of Rodgers-Cromartie, however, the Broncos will pray that Alabama’s star running back, Eddie Lacy, isn’t first scooped up by the 26th-picking Green Bay Packers.
[caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Alabama's Eddie Lacy could be headed for Denver."]
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Not lost in any of Denver’s free agency news is the stranger-than-fiction, head-scratching debacle surrounding Elvis Dumervil and a late fax. Quickly christened Faxgate by idiots (it wasn’t even a scandal), the Broncos’ defensive end had agreed to take a $4 million pay cut (from $12 million to $8 million) for the 2013 season as part of a renegotiated three-year, $30 million contract. The new contract terms were agreed to at 3:25 PM on Friday, March 15th—but the paperwork simply wasn’t submitted to the league office by the 4 PM deadline that very same day. As a result of the no-show fax and what may have appeared as deceitful intentions on the part of Dumervil and his agent, Marty Magid, the Broncos were forced to release Dumervil, clearing $8.7 million in cap space in the process. It’s hard to believe that in the age of instant messaging, handheld computer tablets, and smart phones, someone can be out millions of dollars due to a faulty fax machine, which is apparently the technical difficulty that Dumervil’s camp encountered.
[caption id="attachment_296" align="alignright" width="300" caption="This is a fax machine."]
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Dumervil blamed his agent for the incident and promptly fired him—although, I prefer to picture a scenario in which Dumervil, left alone in a deserted office, is attempting to send the fax, but he simply hasn’t used a fax machine before and takes forty minutes to figure it out. And by then, he’s unemployed.
It seemed as though Dumervil could still wind up a Bronco even after the fax fiasco, but after hiring a more reputable agent in Tom Condon and testing a free agency market full of teams hungry for a pass rusher of his caliber, Dumervil signed a five-year, $35 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens yesterday.
[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Elvis Dumervil flaunts his new Ravens jersey. (Photo: Gail Burton/AP)"]
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The undersized Dumervil may be a sack machine thanks to his speed and his ability to win the leverage battle against more gargantuan offensive tackles, but it’s his small stature that causes him to struggle against the run. The Broncos will look to replace him with a cheaper option in either Dwight Freeney or John Abraham, both of whom are better run-stoppers than Dumervil. Both veterans are still looking for work and both claim to have experience using a fax machine.
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