There are various ways for the average American to view a contract dispute between a mega-million-dollar franchise and a millionaire athlete.
One would be that Broncos linebacker Elvis Dumervil, who makes a living playing football, should be doing backflips at getting paid $3.168 million this year.
This might be the worldly, teacher-scientist-fireman perspective.
Then there’s the myopic, dreamy outlook from within the professional football galaxy, where Dumervil is grossly underpaid coming off a 17-sack NFL season. To the players who share his universe, the Broncos have no choice in the matter. They must pay Dumervil, who is looking for a long-term contract.
“I’m trying not to bite my tongue and trying not to say too much at the same time,” said Broncos star cornerback Champ Bailey, who wouldn’t mind slipping to second highest-paid on the Broncos’ salary list. “But he’s a guy that we need. And I wish things would work out a lot faster than they are.”
The Broncos guaranteed $8.06 million to pass rusher Jarvis Moss, a first-round pick in 2007, and $9.7 million to pass rusher Robert Ayers, a first-round pick in 2009. For that combined $17.76 million expense, the Broncos have received 3.5 sacks in four combined seasons from Moss and Ayers.
To offset that disappointing return on their investment, the Broncos have paid $2.015 million over the previous four years to Dumervil, who in turn gave them 43 sacks.
It’s not that the Broncos do not want to pay Dumervil. They’re just not ready to give Dumervil a $65 million-plus contract with a $40 million-plus guarantee that would put him among the five highest-paid pass rushers in the NFL.
Dumervil’s contract situation overshadowed even Tim Tebow and the quarterback competition Friday as the Broncos opened their mandatory, three-day minicamp.
“I didn’t want the whole circus and controversy with the media, but it’s out there, obviously,” Dumervil said.
Negotiations between Broncos general manager Brian Xanders and Dumervil’s agent, Gary Wichard, had been moving, if at considerable arm’s length. The bargaining sessions were rattled when the Broncos sent a letter to Dumervil this week stating that if he didn’t sign his $3.168 million tender by Monday, the team would exercise the right to cut his 2010 salary to 10 percent above what he made last year.
This was not the collective bargaining rule stating clubs must notify such intentions to their unsigned restricted free agents by June 1. This was a second letter, meant specifically for Dumervil, sent earlier this week that the Broncos weren’t obligated to issue.
“No, but we’re certainly not unique at all,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. “We’d like to have all the players under contract in training camp. There’s certainly no message sent with that at all.”
New England’s Logan Mankins, and San Diego receiver Vincent Jackson, who starred at Widefield High School, were among the many unsigned restricted free agents who received similar formal threats. The letters have irritated the recipients while causing some, such as Jackson and Chargers teammate Marcus McNeill, to make counter-threats of not signing the tender and holding out of training camp.
Dumervil had a far less hostile reaction.
“Being here, going on my fifth year, I’ve seen a lot, so I’m not surprised by anything, really,” he said.
He will sign his tender by Monday. And with or without a new contract, he is likely to show up for the first day of training camp. Holdouts rarely work, anyway, and they figure to have less impact with the possibility of a league work stoppage in 2011.
Said Bailey: “Being the professional that he is, he’s done everything by the book, since Day One. I expect him to do it from here on out. . . . He doesn’t have to be here. And they don’t have to pay him. I mean he wouldn’t be wrong by not being here, but I think it says a lot about him by being here because he’s not actually under contract. I know he wants to know the system, and know his teammates. And it feels good to me, as a guy who has been around a while to have a guy take that approach.”
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
