Can the Denver Broncos fire Josh McDaniels for cause?

This may not mean much too any football fans out there, because the real issue here is Josh McDaniels has been fired. However, for the Denver Broncos, who happen to owe McDaniels a pretty large sum of money, they may decide to try and fire McDaniels for cause. That would allow them not to have to pay that outstanding money, but there may be a significant wrinkle in that claim. Sure Spygate II and McDaniel’s ineptitude at this job may be enough to fire him for cause, but so far the Broncos party line has been that these actions would not cause him to lose his job.

In fact in the wake of the spy gate scandal Broncos COO Joe Ellis came out and essentially said that crisis would not force him to fire his coach. that is significant since Ellis is the one running the club now, and what changed since then isn’t quite clear. I think that McDaniels was in over his head from the jump and his 6-0 start in 2009 confused some people into thinking he was not the problem.

After about two years of the McDaniels show I think we can safely say that he was the problem, and he has hurt this club not only in the present but heading into the future as well. He failed to rebuild the defense, and drafted Tim Tebow which may have lasting ramifications for years to come.

Since this issue of fired for cause will ultimately be decided by the NFL commissioner, and not a court of law, the Broncos may be bale to wiggle out of this situation. However, if this case were to find itself into a court of law Ellis’ comments would seem to disallow an action like this. It seems likely both parties will simply want to move on from this farce, but sometimes I like to see bad guys get what they deserve. It seems any monies given to McDaniels went unearned and he should not get the balance of his contract paid.

Related Links:

• Denver Broncos news and notes
• The Business of the NFL
• Joshua Lobdell.com