ASSOCIATED PRESS First-round draft pick Ashley Lelie, who helped Hawaii to a 9-3 record last year, spoke to reporters yesterday after signing a 5-year, $7.2 million contract with the Denver Broncos.

Broncos head to camp
with no holdouts

Former Hawaii stars Lelie and
Elam sign contracts with Denver

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By John Mossman
Associated Press

GREELEY, Colo. >> Thanks to three contract agreements yesterday, there should be no holdouts at Denver Broncos training camp.

On the day players reported to Greeley, coach Mike Shanahan announced that veteran place-kicker Jason Elam had agreed to a one-year contract. Shanahan said first-round draft pick Ashley Lelie and second-rounder Clinton Portis also agreed to deals.

Shanahan said Elam, who starred at Hawaii, will be at the start of camp today and "will be ready to go." With Elam agreeing to the Broncos' $1.5 million tender offer as the club's designated franchise player, the two sides can now begin talks on a multiyear deal.

Lelie, a wide receiver and the 19th overall draft pick this year, and Portis, a running back from Miami, were the only other unsigned players as the Broncos headed to camp. Lelie signed a 5-year contract worth $7.1 million with a $3.3 million signing bonus, while Portis signed a four-year, $2.5 million contract.

"There shouldn't be any holdouts," Shanahan said, then joked that he was "disappointed" for the media "because I know you need some stories. Now you've just got to cover a normal camp."

Jack Reale, Elam's agent, said his client signed the contract after the Broncos made assurances they would not use either the transitional or franchise player tags on him next season.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Jason Elam, who played in the NFL Pro Bowl this year, will be back kicking for the Broncos again this season.

"Jason has decided to sign this contract in good faith that the Broncos will negotiate a long-term deal," Reale said. "If not, 2002 will be his last season with the Denver Broncos."

Reale said Elam, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, hoped to determine his value on the free-agent market as an unrestricted free agent this year.

"Unfortunately, the Broncos used the franchise player tag as a mechanism to keep him from doing that," Reale said. "He was disappointed, but he was at all the minicamps and has handled it like a gentleman."

Shanahan insisted the Broncos wanted Elam to remain with the team all along.

"The bottom line is, I want Jason on this football team this year and in years to come," he said. "So hopefully we can come to an agreement (on a long-term deal). He's a quality guy, and he's been a very good kicker for us.

"Our policy has always been to try to take care of players who have taken care of us. Going into the offseason, we offered Jason what we felt was a pretty good contract. We were pretty far apart, so we decided to go in a different direction and sign some other players, knowing that Jason would be committed to the one-year franchise tag. We had to look at the big picture, not just Jason. When you're dealing with the salary cap, it's not a perfect scenario."

The Broncos and Elam have not discussed a long-term contract extension since mid-February, when the team designated Elam its franchise player. The two sides were prohibited from discussing a long-term deal until the one-year franchise tender was signed. Otherwise, the team risked a fine and loss of draft picks.

Initially, the Broncos offered Elam a seven-year package averaging $1.75 million, including $1.75 million up front. But that signing bonus was well below the $2 million or more secured by other NFL kickers such as Miami's Olindo Mare, Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski and Green Bay's Ryan Longwell.