The Denver Broncos Hail Mary attempt to reverse the events leading to the release of defensive end Elvis Dumervil last week has fallen incomplete.
The Broncos and Dumervil’s new agents, Tom Condon and Ben Dogra of CAA, appealed to the league to honor the verbal agreement between the two sides over the restructuring of Dumervil’s contract last Friday. The parties couldn’t get the new deal into the league office in time and the Broncos were forced to release Dumervil in order to avoid guaranteeing all $12 million of his contract for next year.
Dumervil then fired his previous agent Marty Magid over the fiasco. The Broncos hoped the league would overlook the snafu and allowed the agreement to stand. According to Bill Williamson of ESPN.com, the league denied the appeal.
It was a longshot to begin with. Granting the appeal would have likely caused issues across the league as other teams would have complained over the Broncos getting special consideration. Meanwhile, Dumervil is talking with the Baltimore Ravens in addition to his hope to remain with the Broncos. Both sides want Dumervil to remain in Denver, but there were several salary cap issues created by the situation that complicate the Broncos ability to re-sign him now that he’s a free agent.