So how did we go from a reported contract offer that would’ve made Thomas the third-highest paid tight end in the league to Greg Thomas torching John Elway, Peyton Manning, and even Broncos fans?
We begin with Julius rejecting an offer of $8 million per year before last season, according to a report from BSN Denver. As part of that report, an anonymous Bronco sounded off that Thomas doesn’t love the game and is basically using his natural ability to get paid and walk away — healthy.
“Julius is here to get his money and get out,” the unnamed teammate told BSN’s Brandon Spano. “That’s just how some guys are. He didn’t grow up playing this game and it’s just not in his DNA to put it all out there.” When asked if Julius Thomas was soft, he said, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Thomas has missed 28 games in his first four seasons and struggled with an ankle injury down the stretch this past season. At one point, Thomas allegedly deemed himself 90 percent healthy, which in NFL circles is almost as good as new. That begs the question — was Thomas legitimately hurt, or just taking it easy to avoid further injury? (Raise your hand if you’re getting Rod Tidwell flashbacks, ya know!)
Now here is where things get even more interesting. A commenter on the Broncos blog Mile High Report went nuclear with a five-point rant, introduced with a scenario of Thomas returning to Denver as an Oakland Raider to “rip the Broncos and their loser fans a new one,” via BSN Denver. After some amateur web sleuthing, Spano concluded that the commenter was indeed Greg Thomas, father of Julius (Greg happened to use the same handle for his commenting name as his Twitter handle).
Here is what the comment said:
You losers need to quit…..BLACK OPPORTUNITIES MATTER!!!
Looks like John Elway has his henchmen are working overtime. Glad to see so many “so called” Bronco sFans showing their true colors. It’ll be totally classic to see him come back to Denver in Silver & Black and rip the Broncos and their loser fans a new one. This kid has beaten all the odds. You losers have been knocking him since he got drafted, screaming, “he’s a nobody, he didn’t play against anybody, he’s soft, he can’t do this, he can’t do that,” and all he did was prove every critic wrong along the way. When he was setting NFL records all you losers were on his £!€¥.
Just a little Truth:1. Julius Thomas has not confided in any of his teammates his intentions, desires or goals related to football. He’s only close to two NFL players and that’s Knowshon Moreno and Virgil Green. Knowshon was hated by Elway and Peyton. You see how he got screwed by the Broncos.
2. He had to see a Dr. outside of the organization to get an honest evaluation on his ankle. Just like the 1st time he hurt his ankle.
3. Coach Fox begged him to play when they knew his ankle was hurt so they could keep defenses honest. It was the only way they would have a chance to get a bye in the playoffs. He was only out there as a decoy for a few of games, yet he gets knocked for his production and not playing hurt.
4. He nor his representatives have ever made a statement about demanding to be paid like anyone else. His Agent is very experienced and knows his ability and the market conditions will bear his value. Just like any commodity.
5. The Broncos offered him a piss poor contract before the season. Then said they don’t negotiate after camp starts. Then during camp and during the season they offered him piss poor contracts with no guarantees. Then he is expected to take a chance on ruining his ankle to please people who haven’t shown him any loyalty? Really?
Reality: A young black man has a chance to get a decent contract and some merciless losers try to attack him with false stories and negative comments. At the same time they are swinging on Peyton’s nuts. But noone is attacking him (Peyton) for being greedy, selfish, unloyal, and overpaid. No one is attacking Peyton for being a one dimensional player, a liability, lacking in numerous areas, etc, etc.
Last I checked this was a business. If he would have destroyed his ankle “for the team” Elway would have dropped him this offseason with the quickness, like a piece of rotten meat. Go get paid young man, go get paid. It’s only in America where people want to destroy another man’s sport unity because it doesn’t please them.BLACK OPPORTUNITIES MATTER
To top it all off, here is a tweet from Greg Thomas to Raiders defenders Justin Tuck and Khalil Mack, featuring none other than Mr. Thomas pictured with Raiders owner Mark Davis.
@JustinTuck@52Mack_pic.twitter.com/XZD9nqriM6
— Greg Thomas (@lethylg60) December 22, 2014
Can you imagine a scenario where Julius Thomas re-signs with Denver and his dad cheers along from the stands at Sports Authority Field? Yeah, neither can we, especially since we already knew that Elway doesn’t put Thomas in the same class as Jimmy Graham.
Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall/Wikipedia Commons
