BAILEY: ... Elway says Broncos want him back.
The talks had broken off four months earlier.
Among a series of Tweets on Thursday morning, executive vice president John Elway declared, “We want Champ to finish his Hall of Fame career as a Denver Bronco.”
“We’ve been working with Champ Bailey’s representative this week on a new contract, which is an important priority for us,” Elway tweeted.
“Our conversations have been constructive, and we’ll continue those talks in the hopes that we can reach an agreement.
“Champ’s an elite player who means a great deal to our entire organization and our fans.”
To that end, some fans are planning a “Keep Champ Bailey in Denver” rally via Facebook. The event is tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. MST Sunday.
KDVR-Ch. 31′s Josina Anderson reported on her Twitter feed that Bailey’s home in Littleton will soon be for sale.
She also tweeted Thursday that a source “close to the discussions” said that Bailey would be “highly unlikely to accept (a contract from the Broncos) in its current form on the brink of free agency given the lack of security provided beyond the first year of the contract.”
Bailey said Jan. 3 in the Broncos’ locker room that “first and foremost, I want to be here,” but acknowledged that he might have to look elsewhere.
“If the time comes I have the opportunity to listen, I will,” Bailey said then. “I’m not going to shortchange myself at all. I want to win. If I feel like I have a better opportunity to win somewhere else, that’s what it’s going to be. First and foremost, my concentration lies here. Hopefully I can make that work.”
Bailey also added at the time that he was unlikely to give a “hometown discount” in negotiations after what proved to be his 10th Pro Bowl season, the most in NFL history for any cornerback.
“Do I look like I should be for sale? That’s not gonna happen,” Bailey said. “I’m going to get what I can get, but really the determining factor is going to be is how big of chance of winning will I have. That’s definitely going to play a bigger part than the money part.”
And that could be the trick for the Broncos, who face a multitude of roster questions while coming off their worst season since joining the NFL from the AFL in advance of the 1970 season.
With so many needs — particularly on defense, which ranked last in the league last year — the question now is whether the Broncos decide to keep Bailey at a high cost against the salary cap (which is expected to return in some form this year) or let him go and use the cost savings to address multiple positions while creating a chasm at cornerback.
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