Stranger Than Fiction

Elvis Dumervil has been an integral part of the Denver Broncos defense since being drafted in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He led the team with six forced fumbles and had eleven sacks on a team that contended for a Super Bowl birth. However, the talented defensive end is approaching 30 and had a salary cap number of $12 million, so the franchise asked him to take a pay cut. After negotiations, Dumervil agreed to a more cap-friendly number of $8 million. Everything works out for all parties involved, right? Well, if that was the case, I wouldn't be writing this post, would I?

In a scenario that seems far too dated for 2013, the Denver Broncos had to release their star player because of what can only be described as a comedy of errors. For contracts to be official, all of the paperwork needs to be faxed to the NFL offices in New York by 4:00pm Eastern time. As of this time, all contracts become guaranteed for the year. As of 3:59EST the league offices had not received notification of Dumervil's pay cut, so rather than paying him the $12 million that his original contract would have guaranteed him, the Denver Broncos were forced to let him go. Had the league officials been more patient, they would have seen the necessary paperwork arrive a mere seven minutes late. Now, ostensibly, Dumervil is free to sign with any team who is willing to give him the contract that he wants; which I can only assume would be more than the $8 million that he agreed to with Denver. All of this because the NFL still uses a machine that, by and large, the rest of the world has forgotten about since the mid 90's.

This situation has left me with a bevy of questions: Did the Broncos intentionally hold off on filing the paperwork in a conniving attempt to absolve themselves of Dumervil's entire contract? Did the agent for Dumervil hold up the paperwork in an equally conniving attempt to get his client more money? Will Dumervil return to the Broncos after this fiasco, or will some other team (Miami, hopefully) swoop in to steal the talented pass rusher?  We will have to wait and see what Dumervil's future has in store.