Demaryius Thomas had a lot more to say about his former team than a one-off comment after Sunday's win.
The new Houston Texans receiver went on Orange & Blue radio, 760 AM in Denver, on Monday to expound on his feelings of being traded from the Broncos.
Thomas repeatedly said management, from coach Vance Joseph to GM John Elway, gave him the run-around on the trade rumors this season.
"It was so tough," Thomas said of the trade, via 9News.com. "Even leading up to the Kansas City game (Oct. 28) it was tough, because that one day, I didn't say anything to anybody. I walk into the job and Vance Joseph walks up to me and says, 'Don't listen to the trade talks, it's not true.'
"Before the season started, the trade talk was still going, and nobody said anything to me. Why come to me Monday when it's the same talk? When he said that to me, I said, 'How is it not true? My agent (Todd France) called me today and said Elway wanted a fifth-round pick for me.'"
Thomas seemed peeved that the Broncos wouldn't be open and honest about where they saw his future with the organization.
"So, we're telling stories to each other now? I thought we were going to be men about this. Leading up to the Kansas City game, that's when this all started -- the emotional everything, because I knew it was something. I knew something was going to happen, but I still had to grind it out, play their game and get through it, because I didn't know.
"I played the game like I was going to be here, but I didn't know. Listening to that from him, and then another couple coaches coming up to me and saying, 'Oh yeah, it's all fake.' Then it really happens, it's like, 'Man, it is what it is.'"
One reason the Broncos traded Thomas was to open snaps for younger players, like rookie Courtland Sutton. Thomas took issue with other rumors he's heard about the reason for being shipped out from the organization he'd known for nine seasons.
"You know what bothers me -- I don't want to stir any pot -- but it bothers me ... I had people from Denver saying like, 'They really said they got rid of you because you were the problem on offense and they said they wanted to better the offense,'" Thomas said. "I'm like, 'Really, bro?' People just kept stirring it on.
"I heard they were saying that Vance was saying something, and Elway was saying something. I did so much for this organization and never had nothing bad to say about anybody -- none of the players I played with. I just did my job and kept it as professional as I could. For you all to say that I was one of the reasons that the offense wasn't going, and say this and that, man, that hurt."
Thomas added that he took offense to being asked to give up snaps to rookie DaeSean Hamilton.
"I'm like, 'Bro, I've been here nine years and you ask me besides anybody else?' I'm like, 'That's so disrespectful to me, because I've put so much into this game, but you want me to come out for a rookie.'
"I don't have anything against it, because he's a great player, I love DaeSean Hamilton to death. When I knew it was that, I was like, 'I'm out here just to be out here.' It was tough."
Thomas concluded by thanking the organization and all of Broncos Country for supporting him during his time in Denver. The 30-year-old, however, obviously still needs time for the wounds to heal.
