When Colorado Crush owner John Elway and coach Mike Dailey get together later this summer to map out strategy to get the team back to elite status in the Arena Football League, the discussion might include roster size.
While the roster has remained mostly under the league limit of 24 in the first four years of Dailey’s tenure, Elway voiced interest Tuesday in playing the 2008 season with a full roster.
“I want to get our roster to 24 players,” Elway said. “I think that would allow us to handle injury situations, and with NFL Europe going by the wayside, there should be more good players available. I know Mike always has preferred to be under the player limit, but I’ll make that suggestion and see where we go.”
Neither Elway nor Dailey dispute the fact the Crush fell below elite status in the AFL.
“The 9-9 record we finished with obviously isn’t close to the records we’ve had in the last few years and not up to the standard we’re accustomed to,” Dailey said. “We want to get the people who are important to us re-signed and build from that point.”
Under Dailey, the Crush was 11-5 in 2004, 10-6 in 2005 and 11-5 in 2006, making the playoffs each year.
The Crush has signed quarterback John Dutton to a new three-year contract, but faces negotiations with free agents, including top receiver Damian Harrell and defensive back Rashad Floyd.
Elway zeroed in on a 51-14 loss to Utah in early June.
“The way we lost at Utah is something we have to look at,” Elway said. “There seems to be two or three games each year that we just don’t show up. We have to improve our consistency. I was most disappointed the way we played over the last part of the season. You always want to be playing your best at the end of the season.”
The Crush lost the last four games of the regular season before splitting two postseason games as a wild-card entry.
Elway noted his team had several personnel changes since 2005, when the Crush won the ArenaBowl. Receivers Willis Marshall and Andy McCullough, defensive back Ahmad Hawkins, kicker Clay Rush and lineman Hugh Hunter departed because of salary cap issues.
“We’re going to get back to winning, but staying within the economic model we have in place,” Elway said. “I don’t think we’re that far off from being among the elite teams, but we have to improve our talent level.”
Elway noted attempts could have been made to renegotiate the contracts of some of the departed players in order to fit into a salary cap of about $2 million, but Dailey isn’t in favor of renegotiated contracts.
“Mike has to feel comfortable with what we’re doing,” Elway said. “We’ll look at that for this year. After our first year in the league at 2-14, we felt it was vitally important to get a winning program.”
Dailey said the five departed players had been signed to three-year contracts, the league maximum. “With that many at the maximum, you realize that can catch up with you and it did going into this year,” Dailey said.
Elway said it’s possible the Crush could attempt to re-sign a couple of the players.
“You’re always looking for a pass rusher,” Elway said. “We want to have a competitive training camp when we get started next year. We had breakdowns in our special-teams play all year. We had a couple of extra-point attempts blocked in our last game against San Jose. We had some first-year players who did all right, but turnovers were a huge issue for us all year.”
Noteworthy
Trainer Steven Morris visited the Crush offices Thursday. He had been hospitalized in California since July 7, when he suffered a heart attack in the locker room after a playoff game against the San Jose SaberCats. Doctors placed a pacemaker-type device in Morris’ chest Monday.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
