KANSAS CITY, Mo. • The Broncos love Demaryius Thomas so dearly they’ve given him $70 million to make sure he stuck around for a while. Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, rocking a blingy, diamond-smothered wristwatch as proof, the wide receiver with a forever smile wore another accessory on his sleeve: emotions.
“(Say) it’s your job. If your boss or whoever said they wanted to get you to go somewhere else, (but) you come into work every day and you had to think about it... how would you feel?” Thomas said.
With a watch that could put a hefty down payment on a four-bedroom, three-bath in Monument? Pretty good, actually. But after a 30-23 loss to the Chiefs and eight-plus seasons with the only franchise he’s known, “DT” is staring down a different type of “TD.”
The trade deadline is 2 p.m. Tuesday. Thomas bet it’s “50-50” he plays for the Broncos again.
With the Broncos treading water at 3-5 and clutching a season sweep to the AFC West-leading Chiefs, any veteran not named Von Miller or Chris Harris Jr. should be on the trade block. Brandon Marshall. Emmanuel Sanders. Shane Ray. Thunder the horse.
This Broncos era is rated "R" for rebuild. Trading a coach who’s 0-9 in Sunday road games is out of the question. The Vance Joseph era last year cost most of a staff its jobs. Now for the players.
“It bothered me, I couldn’t lie about that,” Thomas said of rumors that a legendary Broncos career is in its 11th hour. “It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of days.”
Hey, don’t look at me. DT’s one of the sweetest guys and toughest athletes I’ll have the opportunity to write words about. Even as he considered out loud his professional future, Thomas leaned over to coach up robust rookie Courtland Sutton, his 6-foot-4, 216-pound heir apparent at wide receiver.
“He went here...” Thomas gesticulated toward Sutton, describing a play that unfolded somewhere along the way of Kansas City’s seventh straight win against Denver.
Oh, yeah. The game. This Broncos game looked like the other Broncos games. Up 7-3 with a chance to make it double digits, the Broncos committed pass interference and holding fouls on a single debilitating possession. The result was a missed field goal — the first of the year for Brandon McManus, so props for that — and the Chiefs later securing a 16-7 lead.
The Broncos collected 10 penalty flags for 83 yards in all. Li’l ol’ Phillip Lindsay, the mighty Buff who could, had over 60 rushing yards negated due to penalties. At least four Broncos who answered questions pushed back against the idea they are an undisciplined team, and veterans Chris Harris Jr. and Derek Wolfe threw a few jabs at the officials.
Wolfe took particular issue with the Kareem Hunt touchdown run. You know, the one where Kansas City’s running back hurdled Will Parks and lugged Justin Simmons over the goal line.
“The right guard’s offsides. I went to stand up thinking it was going to be a foul called,” Wolfe said. “Then, boom, snap the ball and nothing happens. I’m like, ‘It’s coming back for sure. They’re definitely calling that.’”
They didn’t call that. But the Chiefs should call a plumber. After Kansas City extended its longest win streak against the Broncos since the 1960s, Wolfe joked he would clog their toilets out of spite. Ewww.
“They beat us by a total of 10 points. I’m tired of losing — especially to Kansas City,” Wolfe said. “I really hate Kansas City. Really hate ‘em. I don’t like coming here. I don’t like anything about ‘em, except for Travis (Kelce, his college roommate). Travis is the only person I like over there. And I have to.”
Back to DT. With young’uns Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton waiting their turn, the Broncos’ longest-tenured player stands as a most attractive trade target to contenders like the Patriots, who need help there, or the Texans, who lost No. 2 wideout Will Fuller to injury.
Yes, things could get weird: Thomas could be catching passes from Handsome Tom (with the Pats) or opposing the Broncos next Sunday (with the Texans). Thomas said he heard from his agent, but not the Broncos, that he’s on the block. The sad part: all those “88” jerseys piling into Mile High for almost a decade would be a career-long keepsake if the Broncos weren’t losing so often.
“We lost. If you lose it doesn’t count for (expletive). All that matters is wins in this league. This is a production league,” Wolfe said.
Here’s an idea from the cheap seats: move a high-priced vet or three to stockpile draft picks. Those can be flipped to move up for a can’t-miss quarterback in the 2019 or 2020 drafts — say, Alabama slinger Tua Tagovailoa, a future star if I’ve ever seen one. If the Raiders can score a first-rounder for Amari Cooper, and the Pats will ship a fifth for an unknown in Josh Gordon, there’s a market for a steady hand like Thomas.
“It was frustrating throughout the whole week,” Thomas said.
Also frustrating: “We’re better than 3-5,” as Brandon Marshall said.
Early in the third quarter a beach ball appeared in Arrowhead Stadium. The locals pretended as if they were somewhere nicer, perhaps the Cinque Terre or Cabo, punching the technicolor ball into the air with great glee. The Broncos still are pretending to be a team that can win now.
It’s time for from now on.
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