Sundquist Is Out After 6 Years As GM
Let there be no doubt. Ted Sundquist was fired from his job as General Manager of the Denver Broncos. The news surprised Sundquist, and given the fact that team spokesperson Jim Saccomano is out of the office until next week the news had to be a surprise to the rest of the organization as well.
Losing will do this to an organization, and for a team like the Broncos, and a Coach like Mike Shanahan, missing the playoffs two straight seasons is cause for more than concern. It borders on panic.
Sundquist had spent 16 years with the Broncos, the first 10 in the college scouting department, and the last six as their GM.
"Very disappointed," Sundquist said. "I loved the organization. I started from the bottom and worked my way up. I feel like I've done a good job over the time I've been a general manager."
While Sundquist is well respected within the League, the results over his tenure have been mixed. If the draft and free agency are his bag, well, the bag hasn't been that full in recent years. The problem is, no one really knows just how much final say Sundquist had in personnel moves, with Mike Shanahan holding the ultimate say. The two seemed to have worked in perfect harmony, making decisions with one mind. That obviously wasn't the case, at least as we moved along the Re-Building Season.
As Mike Klis says, "The timing of the announcement -- a period between NFL free agency and its draft -- leaves little doubt Shanahan and Sundquist had reached irreconcilable differences. Top-level executive shake-ups almost always happen either directly after the playing season, or after the draft."
"I'm surprised," Sundquist said. "I envisioned myself working for the Broncos for the rest of my adult life, and hopefully in the capacity as general manager. I'm disappointed that's not going to happen."
The Broncos now turn to a father-son team to take a more prominent role in personnel decisions. Jim and Jeff Goodman will be called upon to continue the roster makeover that has started the past couple weeks and will continue during the draft in late April. Let's hope the two are fast learners.
As for Sundquist, you get the feeling he knew something was in the works, that his relationship with Shanny wasn't what we all thought it was -- ""The question isn't whether Mike is getting the right advice, as much as how it is being used. I think the assumption that our personnel department has somehow let him down and that Denver needs to hire a 'guru' to get things right is a bit off," Sundquist had informed Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post in December.
"I do enjoy my job and understand its responsibilities. This position might be as difficult as there is in the NFL. I'm also extremely confident that if I were to be supplanted as the GM by some 'guru' that I would land on my feet fairly well and probably in an even larger capacity. That's not meant as arrogant, it's just knowing the business."
Personally, I saw the writing on the wall when his blog on Denver Broncos.com disappeared. Whatever the plan was with his blog, it obviously failed after only 4 posts. There is no doubt the Broncos will miss Sundquist's ability to talk with other teams and player agents. That, above anything else, was the strength the Ted brought to the Broncos and might be as important as game plans and cap space. In the end, the Broncos have moved on. Changing professors at the mid-term is risky business, and the Broncos will prepare for their final exam, the most important draft of the Shanahan era, without a key component and Shanny has run out scapegoats.
Want more on the firing of Ted Sundquist?? See Below --
Mark Kiszla thinks Shanny needed another scapegoat. In the same article, Kiszla talks about issues between Sundquist and John Lynch as well.
Not much more from the Rocky Mountain News