“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

— That song that, ironically, never ends being stuck in your head.

I started BroncoTalk in November of 2006 — days before the Denver Broncos decided to bench Jake Plummer. So this blog has survived quarterbacks Jake Plummer, Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, Chris Simms, and Tim Tebow.

Like many an NFL defense, it will not survive Peyton Manning.

—

Folks, after a lot of thought, BroncoTalk – Denver Broncos Blog and News is coming to an end. That’s the bad news. The good news?

We’re moving. To Mile High Report.

Yes, “we.” As in, most of the BT Staff.

John Bena (The Sports Guru) is stepping down, and SB Nation approached me to take over as lead blogger. I accepted.

This isn’t an early April Fools joke. (I was half-hoping the deal would get finalized March 31st… that way we could announce it on April 1st… then really trip people out April 2nd after they all assumed it was a joke.) We’re not RaiderTalk-ing people here. We’re really moving, to the Big Dog of big dogs in the Broncos blogosphere.

So why would I give up BT to run MHR? It wasn’t an easy decision, but there are reasons. I’ll be transparent and lay them out here.

• Running BroncoTalk interfered with Writing BroncoTalk. As far as the site and business go, BT has always been a one-man shop. I pay for the domain, the web server, maintain the code that runs it, and have been responsible for layout. I deal with advertisers and contacts around sports media myself. As the blog grew, this aspect took up more time than actually writing. At MHR, there are large groups of talented people to handle all of those facets. I’ll have support. I’ll be free to write.
• MHR is bigger. A bigger audience and bigger community.
• And, of course. I’ve never B.S.’ed you guys. It’s a financial move for me as well.

What does this mean for BroncoTalk as it is now? The BroncoTalk domain and site will remain as long as I see fit. It will stand as an archive of Broncos content. They did not buy BroncoTalk. But they did buy my exclusivity. I will no longer be actively updating BroncoTalk.

Who’s all leaving? Among BT Staffers: Josh Temple, Mr. East, Ian Henson, Christopher D. Hart, and Big Pete have agreed to move over to MHR with me. Others are still on the fence, either by my choice or theirs. Jon Heath won’t be able to come over at this time due to his contract at Bleacher Report. Be sure to support him over there.

Could someone else run BT? That’s something being considered.

Should I go over and check things out at MHR? Damn straight.

If you like the way I run things here, come on over to MHR. I’ll be running things that way over there too. I’ll be responsible for community guidelines, staff, and content/direction just as I have been here at BroncoTalk. But I’ll have a ton of support in the form of SBNation crew and the MHR staff in place.

Thank you.

Thank you, BroncoTalk readers, commenters, and emailers for an unbelievable six and a half years. Every comment, critique, piece of feedback, tweet, and email means the world to me. None of this would have been possible without you.

Is it the end of an era? Hell no, it’s the end of one guy writing for this one site. And from this end, a new beginning.

See you on the other side!

Dumervil’s Broncos teammates have come to his support, via Twitter.

Ryan Clady, Zane Beadles, Von Miller, and Duke Ihenacho have all tweeted or re-tweeted updates on Twitter with the hashtag #KEEPELVIS92, publicly announcing their hope that Dumervil will return to the Broncos. Check out the trend after the jump.

@ryanclady #KEEPELVIS92

— Coach (@grhbroncos) March 22, 2013

@ekd92 #KeepElvis92 #KeepElvis92 #KeepElvis92 #KeepElvis92 #KeepElvis92 #KeepElvis92 #KeepElvis92 #KeepElvis92#StayElvisStay @zanebeadles

— Daje Moffet (@TheDexMachine) March 22, 2013

#KEEPBATMAN92 #KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPBATMAN92 #KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPBATMAN92 #KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPBATMAN92 #KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPBATMAN92 #KEEPELVIS92

— Polly Case (@DIEHARDBRONCFAN) March 22, 2013

Thank you @millerlite40!! Let’s get this trending #BroncosCountry!!#KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPELVIS92 #KEEPELVIS92

— David Kromelow (@dkrom59) March 22, 2013

Note: Those were all RT’ed by the Broncos players listed above. If there’s a way to directly link to the RT instead of the original tweet, I don’t know it.

Even Broncos cheerleader Candace Wilson got in on the action.

C’mon Elvis! Please don’t make me retire my favorite swimsuit. #KEEPBATMAN92 #KEEPELVIS92 #broncos #DBC twitter.com/DBC_Candace/st…

— Candace Wilson (@DBC_Candace) March 22, 2013

If there is bad blood between Doom and the Broncos, some love from his teammates (and Candace) is definitely a good way to overcome it.

Denver Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil participates in practice on the first day of training camp on Thursday, July 26, 2012. (BroncoTalk.net photo)

The saga of Elvis Dumervil, NFL free agent, may be nearing its end.

While the Denver Broncos met with free agent defensive ends Dwight Freeney and John Abraham Thursday, the Baltimore Ravens have extended Dumervil a contract offer, Mike Klis of The Denver Post reports.

The Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, and Pittsburgh Steelers have also expressed interest in Dumervil, though none of those teams have reportedly made a contract offer.

Klis reports that the Broncos’ offer contains more early money than the Ravens’ contract — but will that be enough to smooth things over for Elvis? After a home playoff loss, a public dismantling by John Elway, WTFax, and a healthy paycut, it all may be just too much for Dumervil to overcome.

I always believed Dumervil bled orange and blue, but in this case, he may have already bled too much. Keep your fingers crossed, Broncos fans.

My article was generally panned because again, the Broncos were flying high! The general perception was that we didn’t play down to our opponents, that Matt Prater would be fine, and that having a killer instinct didn’t matter as long as we kept racking up the W’s. At the time I wrote that, it was foresight. I foresaw trouble brewing. I warned about possible playoff turmoil because of it. Then the playoffs happened, and although I was too depressed to mention it, all I could think about was “I saw this coming!”

Hindsight showed that my foresight was dead on. In the Raven’s playoff game, we certainly played down to our opponent’s level. Yes, I know that they won the Super Bowl so it’s hard to play “down” to the level of the world champ, but lets all be honest here, we were the best team in the NFL and when the Ravens hoisted up that Lombardi Trophy, all any of us could think of was “THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN US!!!”

So my foresight said we’d be playing down to our opponent’s (Ravens) level…. Check
I also stated that Matt Prater needed to screw his head on straight because he missed far too many “easy” field goals. Well, Matt Prater was 0/1 on his FG attempts (he made all 5 PATs). So ……. Check

Finally, killer instinct! This is where I got the most push back. I was accused of being a Patriots lover for heaven’s sake! All I was saying is that we lacked a killer instinct. I said that we didn’t put fear into anybody. I said that we let teams hang on and believe they had a shot. I said that we needed to beat teams down and not let up. Fear did not exist in our stadium. Hope always remained with the Ravens, and what happened?…. I won’t rehash that because the loss is still too painful. But that hope that they had a shot was why they were able to take the game into overtime…. Wait, that isn’t entirely true …. Our LACK OF A KILLER INSTINCT is the reason why they took the game into overtime. We had so little killer instinct that John Fox said we were too “stunned” to take the field! Too stunned?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Are you F’ing kidding me? It is that sort of mentality that got us beat. We had ZERO killer instinct the entire season and especially in the playoffs. I said it would get us beat, and it did. So …….. CHECK

Ok, so simple math says that I went 3/3 in my prognostication. So what does this have to do with the future? Here is some more foresight: The Broncos will have a killer instinct in 2013. Peyton Manning and Adam Gase have a great relationship, and Gase is now his Offensive Coordinator. Gase has stated that we will be faster and more aggressive this coming season. John Elway is loading us up for bear, and realizes that the debacle that happened last year is not acceptable. Elway himself wouldn’t have ever allowed Dan Reeves to pull that kneel down BS, so you can bet your mortgage that he pulled John Fox into his office and said something to the effect of “I’ll have your back publicly, but if you ever pull that crap again, you won’t be here for another game!” Elway didn’t put up with that spineless crap as a player, so he certainly won’t put up with it as the man in charge of the franchise!

My foresight shows greener grass ahead, and no, I’m not talking about Amendment 64. I think the Broncos will score more points this year, have a larger margin of victory, and make it to the Super Bowl. We signed Wes Welker to upgrade the slot position (sorry Stoke, you’ll always be my boy though), shored up our Offensive Line, and aren’t being intimidated by Doom’s garbage. The Broncos are showing the spine and intestinal fortitude during this offseason that leads me to believe that we’ll be mentally stronger next year. If my predictions are even half as accurate as my aforementioned predictions, then the 2013 season will be a Super season indeed.

Lets hear it Bronco fans. It’s time to take a break from the Dumervil Saga and talk about optimism moving forward. Sound off in the comments below.

So how do these free agent defensive ends compare? Let’s break it down —

Most notably, Abraham excelled overall according to ProFootballFocus. Abraham is the most well-rounded player; neither Dumervil nor Freeney, both smaller edge rushers, even come close.

So who should the Broncos sign? Take the poll in the left sidebar on the home page or after the jump on the story page, and dish it out in the comments.

Dwight Freeney (Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos may be moving on without Elvis Dumervil.

The fax fiasco that led to Dumervil’s release Friday has left the Broncos in need of a pass rushing right defensive end, and with an unanswered offer to Dumervil on the table, the Broncos are meeting with free agents Dwight Freeney and John Abraham, The Denver Post reports.

Freeney, 33, has 13 1/2 sacks over the past two seasons. Abraham, 34, has 19 1/2 in that span.

Dumervil had 20 1/2 the past two seasons. The report indicates he will begin lining up meetings by week’s end.

While the Broncos may still be able to work something out with Doom, it looks more likely we’ll be seeing someone new lining up at right defensive end. Who would you prefer, Broncos fans?

Update, 2:51 p.m. MT: Elway says the team has “made an offer” to Dumervil.  Your move, Elvis.

Somehow, through it all, the Denver Broncos and Elvis Dumervil are still on speaking terms.

The fax machine relationship clearly wasn’t working.

After a second denial by the NFL to reconsider the Broncos and Dumervil’s case, and after Dumervil fired his previous agent and hired Tom Condon, the team and their defensive end are still in talks, The Denver Post reports. Dumervil, a free agent, has also heard initial interest from Pittsburgh, Houston, New England, and San Diego, as well as serious interest from Baltimore, who are thought to be the frontrunners along with Denver.

Hiring Dumervil will be a long shot for the Broncos after they took a $4.9 million cap hit to release the three-time Pro Bowler, but as long as they can get creative with the way they structure Dumervil’s 2013 money, the possibility still exists.

Will Dumevil be wearing orange and blue in 2013? (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)

In a matter of hours, we will know whether Elvis Dumervil will be a former member of the Denver Broncos, or a Denver Bronco for the foreseeable future.

Before 1:59 p.m. MT Friday, Dumervil will either be cut or have taken a paycut. There is no third option; the team will not pay him the $12 million salary in 2013 his contract currently mandates. John Elway made that crystal clear in his latest quotes to The Denver Post:

“It’s not all about dollars. But when it’s way out of whack? Then it’s so out of whack that you’ve got to say: That (salary) can’t be it. Especially when you look at the market and what’s out there now,” Elway told The Post. “It’s so far out of whack. Hopefully, (Dumervil) realizes that.”

That’s one, two, three “out of whack”s from the team’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations. Does this just feel wrong to anyone else out there?

First, let’s consider what “in whack” would be. For me, grading Elvis Dumervil, I would put him right at the cusp of the top defensive ends in the league. He’s either just barely in that top tier of defensive ends, or he’s just outside of it, but he’s definitely in the Tier One/Tier Two conversation. His biggest liability is his performance against the run, which at 5’11” comes as no surprise. Dumervil is more a pass-rush specialist than he is an every-down lineman, but he is a leader on the team and aggressive every down he’s in the game.

So let’s compare him to some of the league’s perennial best:

As you can see, Dumervil’s stats are comparable. But, according to the team, a comparable salary would be “out of whack.”

Finally, Mr. Kiszla’s assertion in the article that Dumervil’s market is set at around $7.5-8 million seems random and unjustified to me. How about an example of a player comparable to Dumervil making less than $10 million? That wouldn’t be out of whack for the article, would it?

Was Kiszla fed that number by Elway? Is our VP taking his hard line to the press?

Because there the Broncos go, taking their case to the media, questioning the legitimacy of their Pro Bowl player’s contract they themselves signed three years ago.  The Broncos are asking Dumervil to be reasonable, when really they’re the ones who won’t see reason.

If Dumervil hits the market, he will command more than $7.5 million per year.

The Broncos and their player should agree to something closer to $9-10 million, and also agree not to use the media to air out the team’s dirty laundry. Contract negotiations stay in-house.

Mr. Elway, for all the good you did this week, it seems you are in danger of being out of whack here.

Spotrac has an up to the minute list of current Denver Broncos player contracts, so I’m asking you, BroncoTalk faithful, “who should the Denver Broncos re-sign, re-structure, or simply extend the contracts for?”

My list starts with Chris Harris and Von Miller. Chris Harris only made $466,000 last year (not including his 53.6% bonus). For a starting cornerback in the NFL, that is woefully underpaid, and that isn’t even to mention that Harris *might* be the Broncos BEST cornerback. Yes, Champ Bailey is an all time great, but as it stands right now, there is a strong argument that Chris Harris is actually better. I’m going to leave out Elvis Dumervil for obvious reasons (contract talks are ongoing).

Von Miller is paid more handsomely than Chris Harris at $5,250,095, but for the premiere pass rusher and linebacker in the NFL, his salary isn’t quite up to snuff. I would sign Miller to a long term contract sooner rather than later simply because playing the wait game will cost the Broncos even more money. Make no mistake, locking up Miller for a max length contract will still cost a pretty penny, but each season that the Broncos let pass will only add a few extra million per year to that contract.

Some other notable players that appear to be in line for an extension or reworked deal include:

Demaryius Thomas – $2,830,100 Free Agent in 2015. Like Von Miller and Chris Harris, postponing the inevitable will only cost them more money. Peyton Manning loves DT, and with the presence of Wes Welker on the field, Thomas should find himself even more wide open this year than last.

Joe Mays – $4,000,000 Free Agent in 2015. I’m not sure why Mays is still on this team. Nate Irving and Steven Johnson are slated to compete for the starting middle linebacker position. With both of those guys in the hunt, there is simply no room for Mays; not even in a reserve roll.

Ryan Clady – Franchise Tag. A deal needs to be and will be done. Clady knows it, John Elway knows it, and we all know it. Look for him to be making around $10 million per year.

Wesley Woodyard – $2,500,000 Free Agent in 2014. Last year, Woodyard signed a 2 year $5mil extension. I think that at some time during this season, Woodyard will be extended. He is a free agent after this season, and if he plays anywhere near as well as he did last year, the Broncos will find themselves where they don’t want to be: in the middle of a bidding war.

Eric Decker – $828,788 Free Agent in 2014. Like Woodyard, this is Decker’s last year under contract. On top of that, he is almost as underpaid as Chris Harris is. If he can stop making ridiculous mistakes , he can easily be making close to the same money as Welker simply because of his age. Look for a deal to be done sooner rather than later.

Trindon Holliday – $435,000 Free Agent in 2014. Holliday is another player that is playing on the last year of his contract. If last year is a glimpse into the future, Holliday needs to be one of the first players to get a contract extension. Punt and Kickoff returns for touchdowns are arguably the biggest momentum and game changing plays in today’s NFL. As Holliday proved last season, he’s one of the best at taking a return to the house. The flip side to that is his pension for fumbling; Often times during the span of the same game. If I were the Broncos, I would offer Holliday a fair contract immediately. It may not be as much as he would like, but he also fumbles way more than we like. Either way though, a new contract is definitely in order.

Lets hear it BroncoTalk faithful. Who tops your list of current players that need to tweak their current contracts or be extended all together? Do you have players in mind that I left off? Give us your list and reasons why your guy should have a sit down with John Elway during this offseason.

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie becomes the newest Denver Broncos cornerback. (Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images)

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has just released news that the Denver Broncos have signed free agent cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Rodgers-Cromartie comes to Denver after playing for the Philadelphia Eagles for the past two season by way of being part of a trade that sent quarterback Kevin Kolb from the Eagles to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for Rodgers-Cromartie and a second round draft pick.

The one-year contract will pay DRC $5 million in 2013, which is $1 million less than what Wes Welker will receive.

Rodgers-Cromartie was selected in the first round (16th overall) in the 2008 NFL Draft. The 26-year old corner had three interceptions, 17 pass deflections and 51 total tackles in 2012.

He was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2009, his second season in the NFL; Philadelphia switched him to his natural nickle corner position in 2011 when he joined the team.

We will have more information as it comes in, keep hitting refresh right here and in the mean time let us know what you think!