The Denver Broncos were left "fuming" by Friday afternoon's fax-machine blunder that resulted in Elvis Dumervil's release.
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Rather than accept blame for the late-arriving fax, Dumervil's agent, Marty Magid, is pointing the finger back at the Broncos.
While the Broncos claim the verbal agreement was reached by 1:25 p.m. MT, Magid alleges the final contract did not arrive in his hands until 1:42 p.m.
"And we had to review the language, print it, fax it to my client, who was waiting by the machine and fax it back," Magid explained to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport. "I told him to fax it right to the Broncos. We only had 12 minutes (until they called in at 1:55). I knew it was going to be close, but we tried."
The Broncos are disputing Magid's account, NFL Network's Michelle Beisner reported. The team also released a statement on the matter.
While Magid maintains he wasn't provided ample time to review and sign the paperwork, the Broncos counter that Dumervil took too long to weigh their offer. The team had imposed a 1 p.m. MT deadline to allow time for the red tape to process. Magid and Dumervil didn't call with their acceptance until 25 minutes past the deadline, according to NFL.com's Albert Breer, thus creating their own time crunch.
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Until one side leaks the time-stamped faxes, this could continue to descend into a he-said, he-said battle.
In the meantime, Magid revealed that "a couple of teams" already have called to express interest in Dumervil.
"Things happen for a reason," Magid told Rapoport. "Elvis knows his ability. If Denver wants to regroup on a one-year deal, we'll do that. If not, he'll be a free agent."
Asked by The Denver Post if he still will try to re-sign Dumervil, Broncos executive vice president of football operations John Elway responded: "We're going to talk about all our options. We're going to let things settle down, see what happens."