The Age Of Transparency: John Elway Tweets On Champ Bailey

Unfortunately I fear that he mat feel better in NE or Indy. AND the price tag may hamstring the franchise as it sits now. It’s not like he would be the last piece of the championship run puzzle. The first piece is front 7.

This put all my thoughts into a succinct comprehensive list. Rec’d!

Fully agree boydy! But, if they are using Seymour’s contract as a guide, that is a problem. The Raiders overpaid for Seymour, as good as he is he not in that price range right now. When I saw Seymour’s $ numbers I thought, “good for him and bad for the Raiders”, just further evidence of Al’s continued poor management.

I don’t know where people are getting this information from. Champ’s contract offer last year was reported to be around 40M/4yr. It’s reportedly in the same zone this time around. For the mathematically challenged… that’s not 12-14M per year. Raiders CB will apparently be seeking around $17M per year. I wish people would stop acting like he’s not worth the money and/or not realizing what great CBs are worth.

I never really thought of your first point, but I def agree and I agree with every word of the rest. Again, well said and great points.

It’s nice for fans to see these tweets, but it doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t know before Elway joined. I don’t mind Elway using them, and if it makes some fans feel better, it’s working, but we were told things like this in the past with GM’s and HC’s about players who were being resigned or going into FA. Is it bad, no, does it help fans feel that Elway cares, yes, so it’s a good thing, but it doesn’t actually add anything.

I like the feel good bromides! : )

Champ’s part of the game just the same as any other player or agent. That could have just meant that Champ and his agent refused to counter, and then walked when the Broncos didn’t chase them.

Was reconnecting with the fans,and while that is a great way to get fans excited again, it also means his hands are tied. He couldn’t say that he didn’t want to pay Champ even if that’s what he was thinking because the fans would turn on Elway.

Assume for a moment that talks weren’t going well and the Broncos have realized it’s unlikely they’ll come to terms. In such case, it would be wise for John to come out and say exactly what he just did… to let the fans know he’s connected and that the team is trying to re-sign their favorite corner.

So like I said, I can see your point. But I disagree on the outcome nevertheless. In fact, I just don’t even think it’s close. Champ is easily a top five corner and easily worth $10M per year. The only way we don’t pay him is if we can’t afford to. But that question has already been answered when the Broncos offered him this last contract. The sticking point now is guaranteed money. They’ll work it out. Replacing him with Peterson would make fans angry and it wouldn’t improve the team. That’s not a good start for the new regime in spending the highest draft pick in Broncos history. I don’t think they see that as a reasonable option. But we chall see…

I love the Bronco’s more. I don’t think we can just “give him the money” regardless of how it affects our team financially. He indeed has “only shown professionalism and dedication since he has arrived in Denver.” but the Bronco’s have also been very good to him financially and in showing how much they appreciate him. This should not be about making one or the other the bad guy. Nothing the Bronco’s have done show that they don’t want him here and nothing Champ has said or done indicates that he would prefer to be elsewhere. Sometimes you just can’t find the middle ground no matter how hard either side tries and you lose a player. Often it’s because some team out there is in love with a player and are willing to make a crazy offer to him.

To me this is why it’s Elway’s first true test with our fanbase. I’d like to believe that this is a positive and that he wouldn’t put this out if they were close to striking a deal, because if Champ isn’t signed there will a lot of peope that are going to wonder why he did this.

For me personally, I want to draft Patrick Peterson regardless of what happens with Champ. Peterson is an elite talent and I believe he will be a shut down corner in this league. The only other options in my mind are Nick Fairley or trade down.

I disagree with your assessment of what the contract says. The Broncos have offered him 40 million twice, but the lack of guaranteed money is a big indication of how they feel. If they feel he is a “must sign” then they would throw guaranteed money at him. By not putting guaranteed money in the contract past the first year, they are essentially giving themselves the option of cutting him or trading him if his play declines.

So for me, I would love to keep Champ. I think he is a great guy and has been a great player for a long time. However, he is asking for a lot of guaranteed money and we have a lot of rebuilding to do. I don’t know if we can afford to throw so much money at him when we could essentially upgrade every position on the defensive side of the ball. If he didn’t want too much guaranteed money then sign the man.

Also, it really rubbed me the wrong way how his effort declined in certain games. He totally gave up in the Raider game. I can’t forget him jogging as Darren McFadden burst up the sideline and scored.

let’s get a new CBA so all of this can be relevant. GO BRONCOS!!!

Rebuilding is probably a fitting word for the defense, even if it’s an ugly word. The question becomes whether we rebuild like the Lions (for like ten years) or whether we rebuild like John Fox’s 2002 Panthers. We already have an offense that’s easily capable of what his offense did the year prior to taking over (they ranked 31st). We already have our own addition of elite pass rusher in Dumervil like Fox got in Peppers. We currently have an elite corner that Fox didn’t have there. And we’ve got two extra picks in the first two rounds that he didn’t have to use (I’m including the #2 overall since Doom and Peppers’ first year should be about a wash).

So I guess what I’m saying is yes, we’re rebuilding the defense. But we’ve got some great tools to do it with. There’s no reason to go in slow motion or backwards. And that’s exactly what we’d be doing by allowing Champ to leave.