Denver Broncos Release Statement on Elvis Dumervil Fax Machine Issue

The Denver Broncos and Elvis Dumervil created one of the most intriguing and confusing storylines in recent free agency history. On the surface, it appears that a fax machine error or miscommunication led to Dumervil being released after he had agreed to a pay cut, but both sides have a different story.

On Dumervil’s end, his agent states that the Broncos attempted to change the deal at the last minute and gave his client only 12 minutes to read over, sign the contract and fax it back. However, the Broncos side is much different. They make it look like Dumervil rejected their offer but then went back and decided to accept an old offer. The situation came down to the wire and time was running out, which left them no choice but to release him.

John Elway spoke out on the situation after Dumervil’s agent ripped the team in the media.

Here is John Elway’s entire statement that he released through the organization:

"“For the last week, Elvis Dumervil and his agent were aware of our desire to change the financial terms of his contract to ensure he would remain a Denver Bronco. After numerous conversations with both Elvis and his representative, we submitted our final contract proposal to Elvis today at 11 a.m. MDT. Based on our previous discussions, we believed our offer was fair and were hopeful it would resolve this matter.“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. 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.“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. At this moment, we are discussing all of our free-agency options to determine what’s best for the Denver Broncos.”"

The Broncos are one of the classiest organizations in the league, so you tend to believe their side of the story. In the end, it is possible that this was just one big series of unfortunate confusion for both sides and Dumervil will return to Denver.

The problem is Denver will now carry more than $5 million in dead cap space because of Dumervil’s release, so they may have to re-do those numbers all over again.

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