At his first press conference as a member of the Broncos, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders denied that there was any kind of agreement in principle with the Chiefs in place before he came to terms in Denver.
Sanders’ agent Steve Weinberg made the same claim in a statement released on Tuesday that recounted Weinberg’s version of the events that led him and his client from talks with the Chiefs to a deal with the Broncos. To Weinberg, the Chiefs “obviously misinterpreted what was happening and jumped to unreasonable conclusions” when they reportedly got upset about Weinberg and Sanders’ actions.
Chiefs General Manager John Dorsey met the media on Tuesday for an update on the first week of free agency and faced the expected questions about what went down with Sanders. He wouldn’t say whether he felt the team had an agreement in place with the wideout and stressed that it was time to move on to the next thing.
“I don’t know about all that. During the free-agency stuff, anything can happen. You know what, I was interested in the player and at the end of the day, the player and the agent decided to go to Denver … we have to move forward and build this organization. I’m looking forward to the next project,” Dorsey said, via the Kansas City Star. “I really don’t talk about the negotiations outside of the building, and really that’s it. We move on, and that’s kind of what I’ve done. I’ve put it in the rearview mirror and I’ve moved forward.”
Dorsey said the Chiefs would “turn over every rock” in free agency and the draft to find the receiver help they seek with Sanders off the table and said he didn’t feel his team was trying to catch up with the Broncos after Denver’s aggressive work in free agency. Finding another productive receiver under one of those rocks to go with Dwayne Bowe would be a good way to make sure Kansas City can keep pace with Denver come the regular season.