Denver Broncos Release Elvis Dumervil After Turning in Contract After Deadline

In a shocking NFL offseason development, the Denver Broncos front office has been forced to release Elvis Dumervil after failing to turn in his paperwork on time. 

UPDATE: Friday, March 15 at 7:46 p.m. ET by Michael Moraitis

Mike Klis of the Denver Post is giving us all the latest on the Broncos-Dumervil situation, including what John Elway has to say:

"

Will Broncos try to re-sign Elvis? Elway:“We’re going to talk about all our options. We’re going to let things settle down, see what happens

— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) March 15, 2013"

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UPDATE: Friday, March 15 at 7:10 p.m. ET by Ben Chodos

NFL.com's Ian Rapoport was able to get in touch with Elvis Dumervil's agent, Marty Magid, and reported the following quote via Twitter:

Rapoport shared more details from Magid about the mad scramble during the failed attempt to get the paperwork filed on time:

Lastly, Rapoport noted that Dumervil's agent is already being contacted by other NFL teams looking to quickly take advantage of the Broncos' blunder:

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UPDATE: Friday, March 15 at 6:47 p.m. ET by Tyler Conway

More strange (and somewhat amusing) details continue to emerge about the events surrounding Dumervil's contract hold-up. According to Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network, Dumervil was trying to send out his part of the contract from a Kinkos in Miami:

You can't make this stuff up, folks.

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UPDATE: Friday, March 15 at 6:12 p.m. ET by Tim Keeney

The NFL Network's Albert Breer gave us his understanding of how the unusual events from Friday afternoon went down:

Meanwhile, NFL insider Jason La Canfora added this intriguing piece of information:

Dumervil's agent (via La Canfora), unsurprisingly, didn't seem thrilled with the entire situation:

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At 1:25 p.m. MT, the talented 29-year-old defensive end reportedly agreed to restructure his current deal, according to the Denver Post's Mike Klis. 

However, it was later revealed that the Broncos didn't file the contract by the 2 p.m. deadline and were forced to release Dumervil:

Klis added more details about the bizarre situation:

Moreover, it now won't be nearly as easy as just re-signing Dumervil:

This is an incredibly odd situation.

The Broncos desperately needed to restructure Dumervil's contract. After long deliberation, it appeared the situation was finally successfully resolved.

But for a development like this to derail the entire process, and send Dumervil to the free-agent market, is something that we have essentially never seen before. 

Moreover, the intrigue is multiplied by the fact that the former Bronco is still a very talented, dangerous player.

The seven-year veteran out of Louisville played in all 16 games in 2012, racking up 54 combined tackles, 11 sacks and six forced fumbles.

The sacks were the third most he has ever recorded in his career, and the forced fumbles were an impressive career high. 

Dumervil and youngster Von Miller were starting to establish themselves as an elite pass-rushing combo that was nearly impossible to keep out of the backfield. They were one of the major reasons why Denver was tied for first in the NFL in sacks and ranked third in passing yards allowed last season. 

You can bet John Elway and the Denver front office will now tirelessly work to return Dumervil to the Mile High City.

But with his official release from the team, things are about to get extremely interesting.