Broncos are broke

Don’t hold your breath B-Marsh and Kennard Mac. The Denver Broncos have you by your Rocky Mountain oysters. 

Wide receiver Brandon Marshall and his agent, Kennard McGuire, are trying to make a deal, but all they are doing is making noise. Owner Pat Bowlen is flying way below the salary cap and has no intention, or the money, to get anywhere near the 2009 cap, which will be around $126 million. 

Under the cap

They’ll go to battle this season at around $14 million under the cap, and that’s because your Denver Broncos are cash poor and have been for several years. Bowlen is gagging on the $20 million he still has to pay former head coach Mike Shanahan and a bunch of his departed his departed staff, never mind the Goodman’s.

It’s getting expensive playing an NFL owner on TV, isn’t it Pat?

That’s all Bowlen can do is play like he’s a big-time owner. Those days are over. Bowlen has made so many mistakes, he can’t begin to count them, and he is being overcome by the problems this franchise is facing. He’s kind of just holding on and hoping all his problems will all go away and the economy turns around.

Sorry, fur coat man, your problems have just begun. The top free agents in the league used to flock here in the offseason, but now all they are getting is glorified backups from a real team, or older players who may be loosing a step if they haven’t already.

Marshall wants a raise

In the midst of all of this, Marshall wants more money, and the Broncos are holding all of his cards. Marshall cannot risk losing too much time in camp, as he’s under contract. Next season’s collective bargaining agreement is now a non-cap year. Four-year players who were going to be unrestricted free agents will have to wait until their sixth year to become a free agent. Doesn’t sound fair, but it’s the corner Marshall and McGuire are trying to paint their way out of. 

At that point the Broncos will just put the franchise tag on Marshall for the next two seasons. The Broncos understand their position perfectly and are not about to renegotiate themselves into more bad money out the door.

The franchise tag is still a boatload of money for Marshall — it’s the average salary of the top five receivers in the league. But it’s not the lottery, which is what he wants. 

The Broncos haven’t won throwing money at the problem. Now they’re hoping a new system and a little coaching can get the job done. If the Josh McDaniels experiment doesn’t work, the Broncos will be going into a bottom-of-the-league mode for the foreseeable future. 

This could get ugly. Cross your orange and blue fingers. 

Listen to Gil Whiteley everyday at noon on “The Sports Nooner” on AM 1510 KCKK. Or call 303-297-1510.

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