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Published on 06/02/2008 at Mon Jun 02 09:22.
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Travis Henry Out in Denver

Posted Mon Jun 2nd by

Travis Henry

After one injury-plagued and suspension-dominated season, Travis Henry is no longer a member of the Denver Broncos. The team announced this morning that Henry was released, citing a lack of commitment in a prepared statement.

“Although Travis has the ability to be one of the top running backs in the NFL, we have to make decisions that are in the best interests of our organization and its goal of winning a Super Bowl,” coach Mike Shanahan said. “We did not feel his commitment to the Broncos was enough to warrant a spot on this football team.”

Many speculated after the initial signing that Henry could excel in the Denver running system, with the potential to gain upwards of 1,500 yards. Those predictions did not come to fruition in 2007, where he gained 691 yards (4.1 average) and 4 touchdowns in 12 games.

The Broncos recently signed Michael Pittman, who now looks likely to play a role with the Broncos this season.

  • azbronco7

    when healthy, travis henry is so much better than michael pittman. I dont get it. led the league in rushing through how many weeks last year before he got hurt?

    and whats this about a lack of comittment? didnt henry say how much he wanted to stay and do better this year? one hammy pull and he’s gone?

    Feels like knee jerk reaction to me and Im just not digging it.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    It’s not as bad as all that azbronco7. Think about it – this offseason we added Ryan Torain and Michael Pittman. I think Torain’s only issue is the Lisfranc sprain – if he can get over that, and right now it appears he will, I’m leaning on him becoming a huge force in our offense.

    Pittman still might not make the team, even with Henry out. The writing has been on the wall for a while. They gave Henry two weeks to come back to practices. He didn’t show. I wouldn’t call that knee jerk – more like a basic time frame.

    If this one pull kept him out over two weeks, how the hell is he going to manage to stay healthy the whole season?

    I supported Henry a lot last year, and I was all for him making a big splash in 2008. This hamstring injury wasn’t the last straw for me, but it was for the coaches, and that’s fine by me.

  • Francis Guerrero

    Henry always had a pre-madonna mentality. As we know, Shanny doesn’t care who you are. If you don’t put in the work and effort your gone! I agree with that, it keeps players on edge to perform.

  • Grant

    Hey fellas,

    What about bringing in Alexander to compete and help the young guys out? Could be a nice guy to have around….

  • Danish Denver-fan!

    Couldn’t Shanny have made a draft-pick from him?

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    Even with all the lead up I’m still surprised by this.

  • http://mrherculesrockefeller.blogspot.com hercules rockefeller

    Jeebus.

  • http://www.slushygutter.blogspot.com CommishCH

    Somewhere Dale Carter and Daryl Gardner are still p*ssed.

    Selvin Young, get ready

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com E. Halsey Miles

    I’m not particularly sorry to see Henry go. There’s too much trouble around him. His statistics were never as good as they looked; he is a decent running back, but I don’t think we need him. Cutting him now means he has a chance to go sign with another team while he still has a chance to compete for the #1 slot; so really, we did him a favor by cutting him now and not waiting until training camp.

    So now this makes my hope for depth chart:

    Selvin Young
    Ryan Torain
    Andre Hall
    Anthony Alridge

    And Young and Torain could swap spots. Wouldn’t that be something?

  • http://broncotalk.net Jon

    good decison by Mike(shan).
    btw:
    hey guys could u cut the #$@%!

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  • The Great KJ

    Its nice to see Shanahan cleaning house and cleaning up the Broncos image. Its a fact it takes commited athletes that are good role models to win in the NFL. The only shame that its taken so long and the Broncos have wasted so much of OUR money to do it.

    KJ

  • flbronc

    I always thought the writing was on the wall with the Pittman signing. Henry is obviously too injury prone at this stage of his career to be someone we can lean on. Put the character issues on top of that, and it’s fine by me that we’re letting him go. I hoped that he would be the post TD answer that we have been looking for to give us more than a couple of years of produciton- but he wasnt.

    For his sake I hope that he can go catch on with someone else, he certainly has the talent, when healthy, to contribute in some way on just about every team in the NFL. We just had to say enough is enough, and go with the guys we have in our crowded backfield.

  • http://mrherculesrockefeller.blogspot.com hercules rockefeller

    Unless there was some specific falling out, I don’t understand the move at this point. What happens if (knock wood) all-universe super-back Selvin Young tears an ACL the first week of camp?

    You willing to pin your running game hopes for the entire season on Torain and Andre Hall? Especially now that there are a bunch of question marks on the O-line? I’m not.

  • Aerobroncos

    Guys we can’t forget this is the Denver Broncos we’re all talking about. This team has produced more thousand yard backs in the last 10 years or so then any other team in the NFL. put anyone back there. Bye Henry. thanx for nothin.

  • flbronc

    I dont think pinning hopes on Torian, Hall or Pittman is any worse than pinning our hopes on Henry- that’s for sure.

  • http://mrherculesrockefeller.blogspot.com hercules rockefeller

    Hmm…I would have to disagree with both of you guys. While we have produced a ton of 1000 yard backs, the lone constant has been an excellent offensive line. We can’t say that we have that right now. We MAY still have it, but no one knows how good Clady will be, whether or not Hamilton or Nails are actually recovered, whether or not we will get improved RT play. You just dont know. You can’t just pencil in a 1000 yard back for us anymore.

    Travis Henry, when healthy, is light-years better than Hall or Pittman. I don’t think you can deny that. Obviously Torain is the wild-card, but I’d rather have Henry on the roster as opposed to wishing he was still on the roster in August if Young goes down (again, knock wood).

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    I hear you Herc. Word from Burger Bill at Hashmarks is that even though Henry was injured, he was still expected to show up to practices. Lord knows BMarsh has, PJs and all, but Henry wouldn’t even show up to the practices and stretch.

    You can’t release a guy for missing voluntary workouts, but it had to be the last straw.

  • http://mrherculesrockefeller.blogspot.com hercules rockefeller

    He wasn’t showing up at practices? Jeez…

  • Mort Metzger

    I’m not saying I love(d) Henry but I have to agree with Herc. Sometimes I worry that the team even buys into that hype of…”you could stick a 87 year old grandmother in Denver and she’d rush for at LEAST 800 yards that season”. It’s just not as true as the perception…at least not today.

    Lemme see how Ryan Clady answers that SD defense before I feel comfortable sticking any ol’ back behind him and expect great results.

    *shrug* Obviously, I hope Clady becomes John Hannah, but I digress…

  • http://www.inthecheapseats.com Dario

    I don’t like the deal for a few reasons.

    First, if Young goes down to injury or doesn’t perform then your depth is pretty thin I believe. What would it hurt to keep Henry who previous to his rib injury was doing reasonably well last year?

    Second, in what the Rocky Mountain News reported as a tough deal, Henry renagotiated his contract in the offseason. The point of contention in the deal was Henry giving up a six million dollar signing bonus for a high yearly bump with some incentives. Cutting a guy after renegotiating his contract is for lack of a better term, sketchy. Especially so when you consider lack of signing bonus for a non-guaranteed contract and the faith that Henry and his agent put in the Broncos to renegotiate the deal.

    The character issue is pure garbage. If character was the issue then the Broncos would have released Henry a long time ago. The Broncos stuck by him during the drug testing appeal and then went so far as to renegotiate and sign him in the offseason. It was a salary dump for a guy they have health concerns about. This theory that the Broncos are only going to deal with Teflon character-types is just silly. You have to look no further than the signing of Pittman to see that.

    I think keeping Henry cost the Broncos nothing but money. It’s exactly because of money that they let him go. I liked Henry for the depth and the possibility of him fitting in to Shanahan’s running back shuffle for 1000 yards. I seem to be one of the very few Bronco fans that feel that way.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    I totally felt that way too Dario – past tense. I was giddy as a school girl when we first signed him.

    After last season, even when Henry was “healthy” at the end of the year, he couldn’t steal snaps from Young. He had a fast start but apparently that wasn’t a sign of things to come.

    The fact that they still have Mike Bell intrigues me. Maybe he isn’t in the Shanahan doghouse after all – by all accounts, he works hard and knows it’s an honor to be on an NFL team (his favorite nonetheless). Putting in the effort let Bell stay on the squad, while Henry’s lack of effort saw him hit the curb.

  • http://www.inthecheapseats.com Dario

    Perhaps that’s true Kyle. But why would they renegotiate his deal if they had work ethic issues before? He blows out a hamstring and now he’s got work ethic issues? How would they even know? Perhaps you’re right and there are things I’m not privy to as an outsider. Bell might be a good depth option. I just liked how Henry always fell forward and thought it would be intriguing to see a smaller back like Henry dive in behind Clady. I guess we will never know.

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  • flbronc

    The offensive line is going to be who they are, no matter who is in the backfield. If they cant open a hole, it’s hardly going to matter if it’s Henry or Aldridge- they arent getting far at all. Henry is not good enough to be a standout rb without a good o-line.

    Sometimes with a player, there is not one big reason to release him but a laundry list of moderate concerns. He’s had repeated drug problems (yes, he won an appeal, but wouldnt it be great if he just stopped smoking weed?), has had injury issues (he missed four reg season games, and didnt he miss one or two preseason- cant remember), and now is not showing up to team activities. Those were the facts, then you can get into the grey area of ‘character issues’ with the kids and all.

    He knew he had a short leash when we restructured his contract- we basically told him he was expendable then. He should have buckled down and gotten to work to prove that he was worth his original contract. He got injured instead, so we’re back to the big knock on him right now.

    Everybodys got thier opinion, and has made vaild points. But I think the team said enough is enough. And I agree with them.

  • Jiggers

    I agree with u flbronc
    we find good rbs all the time las tyear we got hall and young undrafted
    this year we got torian and aldridge
    you never know whos going to be jump up inthe depth chart like last yr with young i think we got lot of potential in the backfield they just need to have a chance
    i dont thnk we are going to wi the surbowl next yr(maybe) so why not give the plying time to a younger guy i know you cant say that for everything cause[obviuos]
    its not like they r stupid -lets just get rid of him, he pulled a hamstring they know wats up they have a plan
    i see the rb playing out as so…
    torain spliting time with pittman as no.1 bruising back
    bell no.3 as a more shortyardage back

    Hall as no.1 change up back with
    Aldridge closing behind

    Young as no.1 all around back for less obvious plays(could be a run pass bootleg)
    Pittman no.2
    then Aldridge

    I personally like hall the best

  • http://broncotalk.net Jon

    I also like Hall, but i think that eventraully will end up somewhere else and make a name

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  • kevannes

    Some might see a hamstring as a conditioning injury. If he showed up out of shape, pulled his ham, and didn’t rehab, well, his skid mark are deserved.

  • http://birty.blogspot.com mikebirty

    I can’t say I was shocked when this news broke but I am a bit disappointed. Like with Javon Walker – I don’t think we ever saw Henry at his best and, like Javon, if he was healthy and committed then I think he’d have been a credit to the organisation BUT there’s only so much messing around that Shanny can take.

    I’m wondering if the contract negotiations were simply to reduce the dead cap money that we’d have when Henry was released. I know its a pretty scummy approach to business but it makes financial sense. Renegotiate his contract, wait for his first minor screw up or injury, make a big deal about it and then cut him.

    Releasing Henry has probably been part of Mike’s plan for months. You don’t get two rookies and a Free Agent when the back field is already packed unless you plan on making some room.

  • Denver Diehard

    Denver no longer needs Henry. With Pittman here for short yardage and still the speed back of Young, all they need is good sized back to carry the ball 20-25 times per game. I think they have one with Ryan Torain. Hes been compared to the size and style of a Mike Anderson type player. I won’t be surprised if Torain is the next 1000 yard Bronco running back.

  • http://broncotalk.net Jon

    24 Belichick continues to F*ck with Goodell « primoz forever…..why is there a PATs fan on Bronktalk!?

  • jim

    Dang. He sshoulda been able to run all day on kilos of coke.