DEMARCUS WARE: CALM WITHIN THE OFFSEASON STORM
Ware will have important role in Broncos’ bid to repeat
DeMarcus Ware stood at the podium Monday, calmly addressing a dizzying offseason. He looks straight ahead, but always seems to see everything around him. Everything matters.
This attention to detail drove Ware to his first Super Bowl title, and convinced the Broncos to keep the 12-year veteran.
He brings stats, sacks, but his eyes and voice can’t be overstated in a locker room with uncertainty at quarterback after Peyton Manning’s retirement. Ware sought to return, and agreed to restructure his contract, lowering his base salary this season from $10 million to $6.5 million in exchange for a $2 million signing bonus. He can earn his full salary back through incentives in a deal he worked out directly with general manager John Elway.
“It was important for me to stay,” Ware said. “They wanted a guy to keep the guys right and the maturity level right. (Elway) knows I am not here for the money. I am here to win championships and build a legacy for the Denver Broncos. I was able to talk with him man-toman and get it done.”
Ware’s assignment won’t change — make quarterbacks miserable — but his playing time might. The Broncos want to maximize his pass rush, so he likely
will taper off in practices to have more to give on game day. He missed five games last season because of a back issue but still earned his ninth Pro Bowl berth, finishing with 7½ sacks. A rested Ware, with a lighter workload exploded in the postseason, getting 3½ sacks in three games.
“Getting him back was very big. He played very well. DeMarcus, healthy, I think is a tremendous complement to Von (Miller) and had a lot to do with Von’s success,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “You all know his influence in our locker room and the job he does. That was a big part of it, but it still gets down to how well he plays.”
Miller, meanwhile, continues to cut a rug on the ABC program “Dancing With the Stars,” working out five hours a day. Ware insists he’s not concerned about the gap in contract talks, which are keeping Miller from the Broncos’ voluntary offseason workout program. They talk to each other almost daily, and Miller credits Ware for helping him through turbulence in his career.
“Von, he’s doing what he needs to do, and he’s taking care of himself. We will welcome him back with open arms,” said Ware, who promised to provide a rudder if and when Miller cashes in on his monster contract. “Sometimes you can fall off or get a ‘big head’ and not be as driven. But you have guys like me who have been in those shoes to help him.”
In the locker room, there’s nobody like Ware. He and Manning provided such inspirational speeches the night before the Super Bowl, Denver players walked out convinced they would win. Ware bridges all gaps, all positions. He is a mentor to Miller. But he also helped lift the spirits of injured rookie tight end Jeff Heuerman — “He changed my entire outlook during Super Bowl week with his advice” — and vacationed out of the country this offseason with receiver Demaryius Thomas.
They didn’t miss anything. Then again, Ware sees everything.
“It was something on Tuesdays, our off day, we planned. The whole year. But we said if we didn’t win the Super Bowl we weren’t going,” Ware explained. “So it was crazy after the game; you know guys say they are going to Disneyland. We knew we weren’t going there. We were yelling, ‘We are going to Africa!’ It was big, man. It was something special. The game, the offseason, it was a oncein-a-lifetime experience.”