Ashley Lelie got his wish. He got out of Denver, baby.
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan does not suffer fools or wallow in mistakes.
Now you know the two big reasons Lelie is gone, bound for Atlanta in a three-team trade made Tuesday night.
This was a deal that finally put Lelie and the Broncos out of each other’s misery, a transaction that netted Denver no more than a third-round draft choice for a player once projected to be a star.
How could a relationship go so bad so fast between Shanahan and a receiver the Broncos selected 19th overall in the 2002 NFL draft?
It had nothing to do with money.
Wear your heart on your sleeve in a game as brutal as pro football, and you’re bound to get hurt.
For Lelie to be willing to sacrifice nearly half a million dollars in salary to force this trade was not a measure of vanity or hubris, but an indication of the depth of his pain.
This working relationship died of broken trust.
The Broncos stopped believing in Lelie.
And Lelie knew it.
Forget this stuff you heard, stuff I was foolish enough to believe, about Lelie’s thwarted ambition of becoming the No. 1 receiver in Denver.
I have a hunch the relationship between Lelie and the Broncos actually died Jan. 22, the day Denver lost 34-17 to Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game.
Look up the play-by-play accounts of that stunning afternoon, and you will see Lelie never caught a football until it was too late.
He did grab a touchdown pass thrown from quarterback Jake Plummer, but not until 3 minutes, 36 seconds remained in the third quarter, when the Broncos were hopelessly behind by 21 points.
It was all too typical of Lelie’s career in Denver: a beautiful play that did not matter. His big catches always seemed to be more spectacular than critical.
“We were 13-3 and won the AFC West,” Lelie said in the locker room, after the loss to the Steelers. “But, years from now, when people look back, no one will remember that we got this far.”
Years from now, will anybody remember Lelie passed through our town?
Dozens of at-risk kids will remember him fondly. Lelie was active in Big Brothers Big Sisters. His heart is soft. But the 26-year-old athlete’s resolve was never as steely as Shanahan demands.
Asked at the outset of camp how teammates felt about Lelie’s absence, Shanahan could not hide his true feelings.
“I know how the guys feel. Guys want players,” Shanahan said.
“Our guys aren’t going to worry about someone that doesn’t want to be here, because they know that guy’s not going to win you a championship.”
The Broncos stopped believing Lelie was tough enough to be a champion. You could hear the contempt in Shanahan’s voice, when he dissed Lelie for failure to embrace competition. In the coach’s mind, winners never back down from a challenge.
“I think that’s the way men do it,” Shanahan said.
Here’s betting Lelie caught a hint of the boss’ distaste for him long before he demanded a trade.
Maybe, just maybe, Lelie was too angry to care how clumsy his exit would be, so long as he got out of Denver.
If Shanahan never hesitated about trading Clinton Portis, you can bet the coach was willing to dump Lelie as fast as you can say Brian Griese.
The only risk for Denver in this deal is if the injured knee of newly acquired wideout Javon Walker takes longer to heal than anyone wants.
The Broncos stopped trusting Lelie.
Lelie, who needs to be liked more than a person who risks hearing boos from 75,000 spectators should, felt unloved.
In the end, who made the biggest mistake?
Denver, for thinking Lelie had what it took to be a clutch performer?
Or Lelie, for thinking Shanahan would help pick up the pieces of a player’s broken ego?
In the end, the best play Shanahan ever called for Lelie?
Go deep.
And don’t come back.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
