Broncos Won't Hesitate To Dump Javon

[Scott Campbell]

From PFT:

POSTED 6:05 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:20 p.m. EDT, May 13, 2006

BRONCOS WON'T HESITATE TO DUMP JAVON

Although the agent for receiver Javon Walker believes that his client's 2007 payday of $10 million is protected by the fact that the Broncos shipped a second-round pick to Green Bay in order to acquire Walker's services, multiple league insiders are convinced that Denver coach Mike Shanahan won't think twice about dumping Walker if his performance, attitude, or any other factor suggests that Javon isn't worthy of the big-money portion of his new contract.

The Broncos signed Walker to a contract that will pay him $25 million over three years. Starting in year two. None of the payments are guaranteed, and Denver can dump him without consequence after the 2006 season, during which Walker will receive only $2.15 million.

Walker's agent, Kennard McGuire, believes that the lost second-rounder will be enough to dissuade the Broncos from cutting the cord. But these are the Broncos we're talking about. Coach Kevlar and company have squandered plenty of draft picks over the years, and Coack K is no closer to being on the hot seat today than he was when he won back-to-back Lombardis in the 1990s.

Just last year, Shanahan spent a third-round pick for Maurice Clarett. Since Clarett insisted on getting no signing bonus, preferring instead an incentive-laden deal, the Broncos were able to dump him without taking a cap hit. They did so, regardless of the fact that they were conceding that they'd blown a three.

Heck, Shanahan has pissed away plenty of first-round picks, and he's still standing. He drafted receiver Marcus Nash in 1998, and traded him for another stiff a year later. In 2000 and 2001, the Broncos selected Deltha O'Neal and Willie Middlebrooks, respectively, in round one. Both were later traded out of town for a bag of moldy peanuts and a block of lukewarm cheese.

Shanahan's record with drafting receivers on the first day of the draft isn't much better: Nash, Travis McGriff, Chris Cole, Ashley Lelie, and Darius Watts.

"He'll gladly give up a second-round pick for a guy that can play one year," said one league insider.

With quarterback Jake Plummer entering possibly the last year of his tenure as starter and No. 1 wideout Rod Smith on the tail end of his career, Shanahan is going for his third Super Bowl title right now -- and he'll worry about 2007 when 2007 gets here.

We're not saying that the Broncos have merely rented Walker for one season with no intention of keeping him. If he plays like a guy who deserves $25 million over three years in 2006, he'll get it.

But if he doesn't, he won't. And no one else will give it to him, either.

The other benefit that the Broncos have acquired is exclusive negotiating rights with Walker, in the event that it's obvious after the season that he doesn't deserve $25 million over three years. At that point, Walker and McGuire might decide that what the Broncos are offering by way of an adjustment to his contract is better than what Walker would get elsewhere.

Bottom line -- the "investment" of a second-round pick means squat to Shanahan, and Walker is in reality no closer to that huge payday now than he was with the Packers.

He's still got to earn it on the field in 2006.

[Chubbyhubby]

Re: Broncos Won't Hesitate To Dump Javon

[quote="Scott Campbell"]From PFT:

POSTED 6:05 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:20 p.m. EDT, May 13, 2006

BRONCOS WON'T HESITATE TO DUMP JAVON

"Both were later traded out of town for a bag of moldy peanuts and a block of lukewarm cheese."

That quote was the funniest quote I have heard in quite some time !

[Anti-Polar Bear]

PFT writers have as much credibility as...i dont know, King Leir ? I should be a writer there, based on my good work for the Oakland Republic and Huckleberry Finn (Hattiesburg, Miss).

[Scott Campbell]

Ok Tank, so what portion of the piece do you take exception to?

[chain_gang]

I can't see the Bronco's dumping Walker after 1 year. Shannahan is to smart for that. I'm sure he knows it usually takes a 2 years to get back into form. The only way I see the Bronco's getting rid of Walker after this year is if he has another major injury. Like tears the other ACL or something. I sure it won't be because of his production this year.

[packrulz]

The guy has a problem with HC/GM Shanahan, I don't get it, the Broncos are tough every year. In 2006 Javon only gets 2.15 mil & they can cut him after that with little effect on the cap. I would think that's smart, especially since he's been known to bitch publicly about his pay. Shanahan is no dummy, he traded a 4th round pick for former 1st round pick DT Gerrard Warren, & traded RB Reuben Droughns for former 20th overall 1st round pick DE Ebenezer Ekuban & also DT Mike Myers, who is very good. I think Shanahan is a very good HC/GM. I won't be suprised if the Broncos go to the Super Bowl this year.

Trading Places
Broncos Send Droughns to Browns for Ekuban, Myers
*** UPDATED 3:54 P.M. MST ***

By Andrew Mason
DenverBroncos.com

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Broncos and Cleveland Browns wasted little time in becoming trading partners once again.

Less than four weeks after the teams completed a deal sending Gerard Warren to Denver in exchange for a fourth round pick in April's draft, the Broncos sent Reuben Droughns to Cleveland in exchange for defensive linemen Ebenezer Ekuban and Michael Myers.

The trade reunites Ekuban and Myers with their former position coach, Andre Patterson, whom the Broncos hired in February to work with the defensive front. Patterson coached both players in Cleveland and also with the Dallas Cowboys.

"We've got some quality, quality men that we added to our football team," Patterson said. "Not just good football players, but good men. I think that's the thing that Broncos fans are going to appreciate about the additions that we have made. These guys are going to be great for the community, great for our youth and great ambassadors for the Denver Broncos."

Ekuban and Myers join Gerard Warren in the brigade of Browns-turned-Broncos. Warren arrived 27 days earlier in exchange for the Broncos' fourth-round pick in April's annual NFL Draft. All three played under Patterson last season.

"Obviously, the media's thinking that I'm Tarzan, standing up on a table, beating my chest for these guys," Patterson said. "It's nothing like that at all, with any of them. (General Manager) Ted (Sundquist) and (Head) Coach (Mike) Shanahan and Coordinator of Football Administration Mike (Bluem) have done a tremendous job with their staff at evaluating these guys, and then all they've done is come to me and say, 'What do you think of this guy?' That's what the process has been.

"It hasn't been me beating on Coach Shanahan's door or Ted's door. It hasn't been that way at all," Patterson added. "So the guys here did their homework on making tapes of these guys. As guys have become available, they've come and asked for my opinion."

Patterson's opinion of both Ekuban and Myers was burnished by not only their performance in Cleveland, but what they did for him in Dallas. Patterson served as the Cowboys' defensive-line coach from 2000-02, and both of the Broncos' pickups started under his tutelage.

Like Warren, Ekuban is a former first-round pick; he entered the NFL as the No. 20 overall selection of the Cowboys in 1999. He joined the Browns last season and posted a team- and career-high eight sacks, giving him a total of 20.5 over his six-season career.

The 2004 season was the breakthrough that injuries had helped prevent in Ekuban's first five NFL seasons.

"When I left (Dallas) in (early) 2003, I thought Eb was getting ready to have a breakout year. It didn't happen," Patterson remembered. "We were fortunate enough to get him in Cleveland. He played the last six games of the season with a banged-up knee and a messed-up shoulder, and still had career numbers."

Neither the knee nor the shoulder should cause any worry, Patterson believes.

"It's just what happens being a defensive lineman in the league," Patterson said. "As physical as (Ekuban) plays, and as much as he throws his body around, you're going to get bumps and bruises. He played in all 16 games, and started 11. He did a tremendous job for us last season.

"He was definitely on the verge to have a double-digit (sack) year. I think great things are ahead for Ebenezer."


Myers has been an occasional starter throughout his career, starting 16 games in 2001 for the Cowboys. He joined the Browns in 2003 and remained there last year, amassing 51 total tackles and posting a sack. His career high of 3.5 sacks came in 2001.

But Myers' value is not in his numbers, but his adaptability and work ethic.

"Mike's one of my all-time favorites because he's versatile," Patterson said. "Mike's played every position on the defensive line -- both tackle positions, both defensive end positions. He started for me in Dallas in the three-technique and then when we got him in Cleveland, he played nose, he's played three, he's played end. When Eb was dinged up at the end of the season he started at defensive end and played great for us. He's a hard worker. He's a competitor. He makes plays in the running game."

Patterson was so enamored with Myers after coaching him in Dallas that he pushed for the Browns to acquire him during the 2003 season after the Cowboys waived him.

"Everybody kind of had their roster set, so he didn't have a home," Patterson said. "That was one of the times I was on the table, banging on my chest to try to get our guys in Cleveland to sign him. We just didn't have any room. We had some injuries take place and we brought Mike in, and they all fell in love with Mike."

In Patterson's eyes, one of Myers' most admirable traits is his consistency.

"I can pick any game that I've coached of Mike for five years and throw it on. That's a clinic tape. I can coach a clinic off the way he plays," Patterson said. "Not to say that he didn't ever get blocked or beat. But as far as what you do with your hands, what you do with your feet and how you play a block, it is perfect on how you coach it.

"That's the part that's refreshing for me, because you know it's important to him. That's the great thing to me about Mike. I only have to tell him one time and he's going to learn it. He's going to master it. He's going to go out and do it in the game. What we work on during the week -- when you turn the tape on Sunday, he's going to go out and do it in the game."

By trading Droughns, the Broncos divested themselves of their leading rusher from 2004, who became the starting tailback in Week 5 against Carolina and held the spot from that point forward. Droughns' departure leaves Mike Anderson as the only former 1,000-yard back on the Broncos' roster.

[RashanGary]

That's pretty much what we've been saying all along. Walkers deal looks big but it's nothing unless he proves himself. He'd probably been better off not even signing it because right now it's nothing. It's just a piece of paper that makes people think he got what he want when really he got nothing.

Denver was no more wastefull with their cap space than GB. It's funny how teams are willing to part with high picks to get him but still won't dole out gaurenteed salary cap space to lock him up. It shows the risk involved in making a negative salary deicions. Those things have a trickle down effect that if the mistake is expensive enough, a team cannot recover from.

[Harlan Huckleby]

hey, maybe Javon will get aids! Or at least bust up his other knee. Hope springs eternal.

[RashanGary]

Denver acctually did a really smart thing by signing him to that fugazi contract. Now Walker will not get paid untill whatever date his bonus is due next year. The Broncos can keep him under the fugazi contract which would prevent him from visiting other teams. As the off-season disappears, Walker will have less ability to latch on and succeed with another team. His only real value going on the age of 29 will be with the Broncos. Right before camp begins they can cut him and negotiate a lesser contract.

Walker basically signed a fugazi deal and now he's pretty much locked himself into a contract that doesn't gaurentee him anything but makes him Denver property untill they say so.

It's too bad he is such an idiot. He has physical gifts like few out there.

[RashanGary]

I surely don't hope the worste for anyone but the realism of it all is that he's a total idiot and he got nothing for his troubles except a blown knee from missing camp, a shortened career and a lot less money.

[No Mo Moss]

What if Javon plays really good this year, but not good enough to warrant elite WR money. Do the broncos roll the dice on his 2nd year potential? I think not, that's too much money to risk. He better have a pro-bowl year or he'll be a FA in 2007.

[pbmax]

What if Javon plays really good this year, but not good enough to warrant elite WR money. Do the broncos roll the dice on his 2nd year potential? I think not, that's too much money to risk. He better have a pro-bowl year or he'll be a FA in 2007.

I think if he has a tweener year, not dominating but coming along healthy, they put the screws to him to renegotiate that $10 mil. Unless they have a ton of cap on hand for next year.

[No Mo Moss]

What if Javon plays really good this year, but not good enough to warrant elite WR money. Do the broncos roll the dice on his 2nd year potential? I think not, that's too much money to risk. He better have a pro-bowl year or he'll be a FA in 2007.

I think if he has a tweener year, not dominating but coming along healthy, they put the screws to him to renegotiate that $10 mil. Unless they have a ton of cap on hand for next year.

But why on earth would he have any desire to renegotiate since it woul dno doubt result in him losing money?

[MJZiggy]

'cause if he doesn't renegotiate it, he could get cut.

[Scott Campbell]

But why on earth would he have any desire to renegotiate since it woul dno doubt result in him losing money?

If he's not worth it to Denver, he probably won't be worth it anywhere else either. He won't have much choice.