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Kircus heads to Broncos with contract
Wednesday, January 04, 2006

By Greg Johnson
The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- Former record-setting Grand Valley State University wide receiver David Kircus signed a free-agent contract with the Denver Broncos, thanked the Detroit Lions for letting him live his NFL dream and then said his former team fired the wrong person.

"(Head coach) Steve Mariucci should not have been fired," Kircus said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Denver after acknowledging he had signed a three-year contract with the Broncos, and turned down offers for next season from Tampa Bay and Seattle.

"Mariucci is a great coach with all the intangibles it takes to win, and he had every player's respect. I'm not naming one guy or anything, but I don't think Mariucci was really allowed to do what he needed to do. They fired the wrong guy."

Kircus, a Lion for two seasons, had been told by the Broncos that he would be offered a deal to join the team for the 2006 season when the 2005 season ended. The promise came after a workout early during this season. Tuesday was the first day 2006 contracts could be offered to free agents.

Three weeks ago, the Imlay City native worked out for Tampa Bay. Seattle, Kircus said, made an offer without having him visit.

"I've stayed in shape, added five pounds by lifting (weights) and feel really good right now," he said. "I felt I would get another opportunity, especially after the reaction I got from Denver earlier in the season. I just had a great workout there."

Kircus is confident he will make the Broncos' roster. "I look at the roster, and who they have playing now, and I think I'll have an opportunity to play in their No. 3 (wide receiver) spot, and maybe return kicks too," he said. "I see it as a great challenge to play the game I love, and a great opportunity with a team that seems to be playoff-bound every year.

"I got tired of losing in Detroit. It was my home, it had always been my team, but the losing gets to you." He said the answer to stopping the losing in Detroit was not in the firing of Mariucci.

"He believed in the players, and they believe in him," he said. "He was the kind of guy who wanted to play the guys who worked hard Monday through Saturday. But he's part of where it seems like they play who they pay because somebody doesn't want to look bad. That's just my opinion, just one David Kircus, but you know, I don't think I'm the only one who felt that way."

Kircus, 25, was released by the Lions at the end of training camp. He spent 14 games over the previous two seasons on the practice squad.

He was thankful the Lions selected him in the sixth round (175th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft.

"They let me live my dream of being a Detroit Lion," he said. "Not everybody gets to do that."