Denver Broncos: Demaryius Thomas trade rumors now taking center stage

The Denver Broncos lost a disappointing game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, Demaryius Thomas trade rumors take center stage.

The Denver Broncos lost in disappointing fashion to the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the best teams in the NFL. With that game now in the books, the attention will turn to Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, along with a host of other players on the team, in regards to the NFL trade deadline (Tuesday).

Adam Schefter reported a week ago that it would not be surprising to see Thomas on another team by the time Wednesday practices roll around this coming week, and Thomas himself talked after the game about his chances of being traded.

At this point, he characterized those chances as ’50-50′.

There were rumors swirling around on Sunday that the New England Patriots are potentially interested in acquiring Thomas’ services for this year and potentially beyond, a rumor or idea that I hammered pretty hard before the start of the season.

If Thomas does get traded, it’s going to be awful anyway. If he gets traded to the New England Patriots, it’s going to be worse than awful.

That move alone would be a clear indicator of where the Broncos are at now and where they’ll be heading into the future. I don’t foresee a fire sale in Denver but some big names could very well be moved in the coming days, and Thomas is set to take center stage in the rumor mill.

Thomas did acknowledge after the loss to Kansas City that if the Broncos had won that game, he didn’t think he’d have any chance of getting traded. He also said he didn’t like that the rumors leaked because it was a major distraction for him, and said someone in the front office should have kept that one closer to the vest.

Thomas has been with the Broncos for nine years, and has been through some of the best and worst of times in Broncos history.

He helped the team get out of the mess Josh McDaniels (the guy who drafted him) put them in back in 2009-10, and he also was a key reason why they were able to win five straight AFC West titles from 2011-15 and ultimately a Super Bowl.

Where might the Broncos be looking to trade DT? Graham Tiedke put together a list of places he could land, and one idea that makes some sense is Miami with Adam Gase, who coached the stellar 2013 offense in Denver.

There are also other players the Broncos could have on the block, including Brandon Marshall, Bradley Roby, and Darian Stewart among others. We have a list of those players here.

After the loss against Kansas City, it makes more sense for the Broncos to sell at the deadline since they are looking at having to make salary cuts at the end of this season no matter what, and Thomas is among the team’s most expensive players currently on the books.

It would be a very sad ending to Thomas’ stellar Denver career, one in which he is extremely close to breaking a number of all-time franchise records.