Henry's tired act finally broke Broncos' back

ShareThis

A respected Denver Broncos veteran who shall remain nameless let it be known during quarterback camp that simply by jettisoning receiver Javon Walker and linebacker Ian Gold in the offseason, the Broncos became a better team.This was a reference not to talent but to team chemistry, to that elusive sense of unity the Broncos used to know.Mike Shanahan seldom admits a bad decision publicly, but he will "correctify,'' as Larry Coyer would say, even while he defends the decision he's reversing.Which will explain Monday's third and final shoe drop of the offseason, an early-morning farewell to the last surviving member of the Broncos' 2007 axis of knuckleheads.As occasional column contributor Tony Lovitt of San Diego points out, Travis Henry could be forgiven if he was distracted from his football duties, what with Father's Day coming up and all."Travesty," as my colleague Drew Litton nicknamed him, can now devote full attention to his nine children by nine women across four southern states, assuming these numbers have not increased since last year's Georgia child support court case that exposed them.Confronted with this information on the eve of the '07 season, Shanahan did not deny that it might offer a window into the man's character. He did say he had no idea when he signed Henry five months earlier.When Henry came up dirty on a league drug test during the season, Shanahan defended him, explaining he'd put on his Andy Griffith badge and given Henry a lie-detector test, which he passed. When Henry's appeal to the NFL was upheld, it looked like vindication for both player and coach.But behind the scenes, Henry's knuckleheadedness was slowly wearing on the organization. Teammate Andre Hall, one of the backs who will compete for Henry's touches, said his former teammate brought his release on himself. Asked what he meant, Hall trod carefully:"I really can't say too much. I guess 'cause he didn't show. I don't really know too much about what's going on, what happened. He had a hamstring injury, I know that much. I know he's supposed to been out here, a lot of guys are out here hurt, and he didn't show up."The camel's back was already pretty well loaded. Shanahan cut him on the spot, without waiting for an explanation. This became apparent when he was asked to characterize Henry's reaction."I haven't told him yet," Shanahan said after Monday's workout, the first of a two-week team camp. "I just released him. Haven't talked to him."This was a marked contrast to his handling of the failed drug test, and a measure of how far Henry's credibility had fallen within the organization. Evidently, Henry exhausted a long list of excuses for missing the team's "voluntary" offseason workout program. In fact, I'm told he now holds the club's unofficial record for sick relatives.This actually makes sense when you consider how many kids he has, although it requires believing that he also takes responsibility for them. Let's just say the Georgia court case raised some doubts about this. Documents in the case showed him spending $250,000 of his Broncos signing bonus on a Mercedes and gold jewelry while under court order to establish a trust for a 3-year-old for past failure to pay child support.It would be nice to report that on second thought Shanahan regretted signing such an irresponsible fellow and cut him to improve his team's character quotient. Indeed, when I asked about the importance of character in his roster decisions this year, Shanahan offered the obligatory assurance that character wins championships.Unfortunately, the veteran running back he signed last week in apparent anticipation of Monday's move, Michael Pittman, has a history of domestic violence almost as long as Henry's history of irresponsible paternity.While attending Fresno State in 1997, Pittman was arrested for allegedly holding a former girlfriend by the neck and slamming her face into a car seat, according to The Associated Press. He was sentenced to a batterer's treatment program and two years' probation.In the summer of 2001, as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, he was again arrested on domestic violence charges, after which the Cardinals released him, according to the AP.In May 2003, as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittman was arrested in Phoenix and charged with ramming his Hummer into his wife's Mercedes, which was carrying his wife, baby sitter and 2-year-old son at the time.The St. Petersburg Times reported that Pittman's wife, Melissa, told investigators she was subjected to 30 or 40 incidents of domestic violence she never reported to police.So cutting Travis Henry was not a statement about character so much as a choice between character flaws. It was Henry's bad luck that his character flaw -- a con man's fixation on serving himself -- happens to be a locker room liability, too.(Contact Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News at kriegerd(at)rockymountainnews.com.)