Champ Bailey: “This is the last straw”

I have no idea why they will not sign him…since the guy has been here he has never complained and has been a complete professional for our organization. The other thing, Champ Bailey is probably the biggest reason are defense is as good as it is(which isn't saying much).

It may come down to us Franchising him, but I hope that they can work out a deal. I think he is still one of the top 5 cb in the league. If we could just get a pass rush from the front 4 and get Doom back with the same results from last year, he would be just a dominate as years past. A lot people think that is he is not that good anymore, but I think that is due to the lack of pass rush. I like Champ and don't want to see him leave.

Well when it rains it pours. You can never have enough good news, can you?

Thank you for everything Champ. I hope you can stay active (occasionally) in the Denver area when you are playing somewhere else.

He has been way too good for way too long to have to go through more of this. I say Champ to NYJ, GB or ATL. Let's get this guy some playoff games. If anyone deserves it, it is him.

I honestly see him going to the Ravens, it's the one contender that desperately needs corner help and he could make that defense ungodly again. With that said, I hope we find a way to keep him in Denver.

Yeah, sounds like he's finished here. Too bad, but it's hard to blame the guy.

I have enjoyed watching Champ play in Denver, but Come On….I get that Shanny treated the D players as second class citizen and McDaniels was better but you can not survive the record they have had for over a year, embarrass the owner and get blown out at home by two division rivals and a lowly ST Louis and NOT lose your job. I hope this is just Champ's frustration over a rotten season and getting his contract jerked around. If not, franchise him and trade him.

As a general rule, when you click the “Like” button, it will only soften the font and you won't see anything until you reload the page or when you come back the next time. If you use Discus to post, your user name should also show as a “Like” along with the others, if any.

The disrespect Champ Bailey was shown this season in the way his contract negotiations were mishandled is another legacy of the Josh McDaniels, Brian Xanders administration. Both of these men have hurt our organization and are BOTH deserving of the same fate.

Fire Xanders now and sign Champ before he becomes a free agent.

Was Xanders another Expat or where did he come from I dont believe he will be missed. Keep hearing the talk about going back to Bronco family sounds nice but not sold on Kubiak as HC Houston record doesnt convince me is everything neede as HC O cordinater okay Stinky and Elway in front office could be Elway showed some skills with his Arena team Stinky is knowledgable what would his best place would be in front office

How long can Champ go? We need to get younger on defense. Let Champ go and win in another town. Broncos have a long way to go. Give the rookie DB'S a shot next year. When you lose a step or two as a CB you dont do anyone else on the defense any good. Champ was great for us and sometimes it looked like he was the only one on the field. Thanks for the good years and good luck.

Xanders came from the Atlanta Falcons. He was Director of Football Administration and Player Personnel Analyst for them.

Thanks for the info Falcons dont seem to be missing him. Seeing more of this Stubsville he gives off a nice aura and he looks like a coach i like the passion and desire to compete at a high level hope he shows well

Off the champ subject, but do you guys think Urban Meyer would be a good coach for the broncos? Have him reunited with Tebow. Thoughts?

any urban meyer talk on this blog? you don't really believe the “more time with my family” thing again right?

Anyone remember getting offended when anyone implied they'd rather play somewhere else besides Denver? I'm like the rest of you- Champ is a class act and he deserves a shot for a ring. If he leaves, I don't blame him at all, but that shows how much faith I've lost in my team. Thirty-three years as a fan and I can't ever remember feeling this hopeless.

Dave Logan put it best on The Ride Home tonight: the next decision the Broncos make for GM/head coach MUST be the right one. We've become what we used to make fun of (Buffalo, Cleveland, OAKLAND) and we're quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NFL, garnering the metaphor “the once-proud franchise”.

Maybe we can sign him and then trade for a higher draft pick and pick up another QB in the round. We can sit the newly drafted QB on the bench with the others and watch another season go down the drain.

I think it is time for Bronco nation to focus their attention and frustration on those that are responsible for making these draft and contract decisions and run those folks out of town while we still have a Denver franchise to cheer for. We better not take that fact for granted either. This team is in complete disarray. Don't believe me? Ask any of those traded recently and re read Bailey's comments.

didnt know there were other bronco fans here :) what area are u in?

South end of Denton. Moved from Denver in 96

What football knowledge does Ellis even possess? Maybe if he had some gravitas in this or an un-intimidated GM from the Parcells School, we'd have had someone capable of asking McDaniels why the advantages of the Tight End position suddenly disappeared for one team in 32.

I mean, two Tight Ends or just a blocking Tight End signal that the defense barely has to cover that position (in the slim chance he's called on to do anything but block). And all in an era when I've never before seen so many at that position flourish (particularly when opposing Safeties are being used more creatively to do everything from rush the passer from the D-line to covering wide-receivers).

Therefore, the Safeties have become the key to the defense and must be attacked back to exploit their vulnerabilities. McDaniels drove me nuts by how he insisted upon throwing to the few inches of sideline space 80% of the time… which only perpetuates the problem of Safeties not needing to stay home and guard against the deep ball. But could Xanders, Ellis or Bowlen have complained about this?

Well, even if they did, McDaniels probably understood that we lacked the QB capable of accurately and rapidly hitting that 30-yard pass play between-the-hash-marks… since Cutler was run out of town.

Why that was foisted on us probably had to do with McDaniels not wanting his authority questioned by an upstart gunslinger who preferred the old-coach. But it hurts too much to even remember that time in 2008 when I was so taken in by hope– and by unfair comparisons with Elway– that I didn't register my displeasure over the needless sacrifice of a franchise QB that some teams wait more than a decade to secure.

Ironically, playing Peyton Hillis more and having a less-injured offensive-line could gave supplied enough running-game for the team to not be so pass-oriented (and therefore prone to red-zone interceptions in Jay's over-criticized final campaign). So I gotta blame McD and Shanahan for not realizing what they had in Hillis (whom Mike began the season as the fifth option at RB and only used when Andre Hall, Selvin Young and cell-phone salesman Tatum Bell weren't available).

Whether McDaniels would have still tried to trade Cutler if he threw 7-10 less INT's that final season we'll never know.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

In other words, it all went wrong with personnel and the hiring of McDaniels without first securing an understanding that he could work with Cutler (who may have even deserved a say-so in this most-important decision… even through all his pouting).

I was gonna rip into Ellis as the type who spouts truisms from “The Ten Habits Of Successful People” books and learns how to delegate authority and step out of the way to let them succeed or fail on their own. Which is exactly what Bowlen does already. But then I realized that pulling the trigger on McDaniels firing actually counts as a good decision for Ellis and its possibly unfair to blame him as the fall-guy for a decision that Bowlen ultimately made regarding the annointing of one man to run the show (who was selected by them instead of a GM the H.C. should be accountable to).

So, I think we are tempted to pick on Ellis because we need someone to blame besides McDaniels (and Bowlen is so remote and in such questionable authority that its almost equivalent to questioning George Steinbrenner about his day-to-day overseeing back in 2005).

But although Ellis has been Bowlen's incapable version of Brian Cashman, their announcement at least admits that a real GM is critically essential (so I won't pile on as much as I was tempted to when first writing this…. despite the fact that this was a lesson many of us mentioned after the way Shanahan pinned draft failures on Sundquist and took the credit for the rare successes).

I just resent this info about Ellis' supposed marketing acumen, when the team doesn't even play in the color scheme a majority of the fans demand. But maybe that, too, will be turned around in a symbolic nod to the boiling-over fan-base?

However, the key all along is a strong GM that could eliminate these past errors in personnel, coaching and organizational leadership.

And since Bowlen depends on Ellis the way Anthony Hopkins' CEO character depended on Brad Pitt's out-of-nowhere assistance in “Meet Joe Black,” I'd be foolish to pry any farther about a situation I cannot even hope to fathom.

So, although I was tempted to paint Ellis as organizational-death personified– and Bowlen as a much-loved CEO willing to strike a deal for more time– I will be more positive and thank them from taking the first-step.

Unfortunately, the journey will be much longer and more difficult now that Cutler, Hillis, two years and many wasted draft-picks have been squandered by an ego-centric head-coach who drove this organization off a cliff and wouldn't even seize the biggest advantages of switching to a 3-4 .

I just hope we make assembling a powerful pass-rush the priority in the next two off-seasons (even if it means taking a step back and giving Tebow a chance at the helm to immediately-diminishing results).

We need guys with the powerful and intimidating physiques of Terrell Suggs, LeMarr Woodley and James Harrison if we stay in the 3-4 and finally begin to utilize its blitz-disguising advantages (that could have used Champ Bailey's not-yet-diminished skills the way the Jets used Darrell Revis' to supplement their own mediocre Front Three).

But, yet again, McDaniels failed to seize this initiative even after the blowout over the Chiefs underlined its importance. Instead, we actually seemed to fret over all the yards and points the Chiefs attained in the second-half when the game was already out of reach (and re-settled into the same ol', same ol' in the dispiriting loss to San Diego… despite Rivers lacking his blitz-killing favorite TE Antonio Gates)

That was the final straw as far as I'm concerned. And yet another sign that McDaniels could only see the game through the eyes of an offensive-coordinator who'd gotten too used to the way a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Steve Young could regularly dis-assemble most blitz-packages.

Lets hope we don't hire another of of those O.C.'s from a near-perfect team with a legendary QB in his prime. It worked at first with Shanahan. And it may have kept working if he could have also handled the personnel. But I'd like to see a Schlereth or Elway as President of Football Operations and a strong-willed GM like Bill Parcells or the Chargers' A.J. Smith running the front-office.

i think all the bad personel moves have killed the fans hope. Bowlen needs to pay champ to save face….he needs to show us he will do what it takes to make us happy. make sure the draft is all defense and move champ to safety and get another corner….be nice to not see another loved bronco step away

Yes, Bowlen needs to pay champ to stay with the Broncos. Love the champ and would HATE to see him leave! Bowlen most defintely needs listen to the fans and keep Champ Bailey on the Broncos. We love you, Champ!!!!!!

Just shut up, you have no clue what your talking about, he is the most valuable player on the team and you need to shove it, whho would replace a record setting Pro bowler that is still doing as good as any other corner in the NFL if not better