By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

As the regular season in the NFL winds down, the Broncos' Jason Elam says he has sold his house outside Denver and has no idea where he will be playing next year.

"I really don't," Elam said. "I've been worrying about it so much, I'm tired of thinking about it."

If Elam were a wide receiver, defensive back or linebacker he probably wouldn't be having this problem.

But he isn't. He is a kicker.

Broncos kicker Jason Elam said he is "tired of thinking about" where he'll play next season. Advertiser library photo

Three times in six years he has been voted to the Pro Bowl. He shares the NFL record for the longest field goal (63 yards), has the mark for most consecutive extra points (371) and counting and owns the second longest field goal in Super Bowl history (51 yards). He is the Broncos' all-time scoring leader and kicked three crucial second-half field goals in a stiff wind in the 1998 AFC Championship game.

So, when he came off his best season ever last year — 86 percent on field goals — in the final year of his contract, he thought he might find a nice long-term deal waiting for him from the grateful Broncos. Or, based upon free agent feelers, security somewhere else.

After receiving $950,000 per year, or less than half of what some of his less decorated contemporaries were making, Elam was looking for his reward from the Broncos in his payoff year.

Instead, after negotiations broke down, the Broncos slapped the "franchise player" designation on him, a move that while it pays him $1.4 million for this season only, prevented him from going elsewhere for a deal.

While the $1.4 million is good money it is only for one season and still doesn't equate to his performance when compared to other kickers in the NFL where he still lags New England's Adam Vinatieri, Miami's Olindo Mare and Tampa Bay's Martin Gramatica, who are all at or close to $2 million per year, some of their deals guaranteed.

With no sign that a deal with the Broncos is any closer this year, Elam says he has all but resigned himself to leaving Denver after 10 remarkable years.

"It has been a great 10 years and if I have to leave, it will be with a lot of fond memories and friends," Elam said. "It is a great organization from top to bottom. Mr. (Pat) Bowlen is a great owner and as long as Mike (Shanahan) is here, we're not only going to be competitive, we'll be a Super Bowl contender. I'd like to stay and be a part of it, but there has been no indication that there's going to be a deal for me this year when there wasn't one last year."

Shanahan says: "I'm hoping there is still a chance to get a deal done. But that's part of life in the NFL. You can't take it personally. When you're dealing with the salary cap, you just have to do what is best for your football team."

Still you have to wonder if a large part of the standoff is a mental barrier to treating a kicker — even one of the best in the business — as less of a football player. You have to question whether there is a bit of holdover prejudice about the position even when the man who holds it down has demonstrated he is a difference maker.

"I think that is a lot of it," Elam said. "Mike (Shanahan) hasn't said that, but I think he has a real problem with paying top dollar to a kicker."

Well into 10 years now and given his impressive body of work, you'd hope there will come a realization that for the Broncos Elam long ago ceased to be just some kicker.