Broncos Columnist Says It’s ‘Rich’ To Be Lectured By Harbaugh

We haven’t heard much from the Denver Broncos after they were accused of exploiting a loophole in the failed trade for linebacker Daiyan Henley, but Denver Post columnist Troy Renck called it “rich” that the Broncos were being lectured on morals and rules by the likes of coach Jim Harbaugh of the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday.

The trade occurred on Tuesday at the deadline, but the Broncos subsequently announced that the trade wouldn’t be finalized, citing issues with Henley’s knee as the reason the deal didn’t go through. 

It was a surprising move for what was a relatively minor deal, but reporting in the days that followed revealed that the Broncos tried to renegotiate the terms of the deal, substituting a couple of lesser late-round draft picks for the two in the original version. 

That drew some sharp comments from Harbaugh, who thought the Broncos shouldn’t be allowed to “renegotiate” the terms of the deal. 

Denver’s version of this is that the team found something in Henley’s medicals that was different from what the Chargers originally gave them, and that the team approached the NFL about the draft pick substitutions and were given permission to start that process. 

The Broncos used Henley’s failure to pass his physical as part of the reason to rescind the trade. Harbaugh’s understanding was that Henley’s medicals involved what he called a “pass/fail” grade that he apparently thought should have been a boilerplate approval. 

Per Denver7.com, Chargers GM Joe Hortiz has discussed the situation with the NFL, and he expects teams to “propose closing the loophole” at the league meetings in March. 

Henley was selected in the third round out of Washington State in 2023, and he became a starter in his second season with the Chargers. In 41 games over the last three years, Henley has 301 tackles, five sacks, four interceptions, two fumble recoveries and 15 passes defensed.

We haven’t heard from the NFL about this, either, but that should occur some time this weekend, and it will be interesting to see if the league backs up the Broncos version or agrees with Harbaugh’s assessment. In some ways this situation mirrors what happened with the Las Vegas Raiders when they tried to trade defensive end Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens, who rescinded the trade due to Crosby’s knee issues. 

The Broncos will now go forward without the depth piece they sought to help lower the snap count of linebacker Alex Singleton, with the team currently ranked 23rd in stopping the run.