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Plummer leaning to retirement

Source says Broncos QB is ready to begin his life beyond the football field

Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 3, 2007 at midnight

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Jake Plummer is packing his bags and ready to ride his Honda Element into the sunset.

The Denver Broncos quarterback won't yield the fourth- round pick the team acquired in a trade Friday with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead, he'll embark on a future probably filled with extensive travel, quality time with his serious girlfriend and charitable work, maybe even the Peace Corps in retirement.

The decision might appear stunning on the surface, but those close to the quarterback, a 136-game starter in his decade in the NFL, hardly were surprised.

Plummer has been mentioning he wanted to embark on another path in his life for awhile.

No one wanted to directly confirm Plummer's plans, but a source close to the player confirmed they indeed were true.

And while Denver coach Mike Shanahan was said to be steamed by the choice his three- year starter made, it doesn't appear to be a ploy to get the team to trade him to a more desirable locale.

Rather, it's something Plummer seems to have been struggling with for a while, in particular since his benching in late November in favor of rookie Jay Cutler. According to the source, Plummer is in the process of filing his retirement papers with the league.

"He's wanted to get out of the spotlight. He's been in it for 15 years," said Broncos quarterback Preston Parsons, who also was teammates with Plummer with the Arizona Cardinals but hasn't spoken directly to his close friend for several days. "He had it at Arizona State, then in the NFL for the last 10 years. I just think he wants to get away. He has a lot of living to do."

Plummer always has been considered a free spirit, dating to his youth. He was raised in a remote hideaway in the Sawtooth Wilderness in Idaho before moving to big-city Boise. His mom, Marilyn, particularly was counterculture, and Plummer inherited some of those qualities. He still goes back to his property in Coeur d'Alene often to get away from the hubbub of pro sports. His naked locker room chicken dances at ASU were legendary, and his funky personality rubbed off on teammates in Denver, who wanted to perform well for him.

Plummer recently returned from Belize. He'll probably make similar exotic trips in the near future.

"Unfortunately, Denver never got a chance to know the true Jake," said Judianne Atencio, executive director of Plummer's foundation since April. "That was disappointing to me."

That included Plummer's work with Alzheimer's patients and Family Tree, visits with soldiers and sharing e-mails with children facing bone-marrow transplants at St. Jude Hospital.

Plummer, 40-15 including playoffs as a starter in Denver, instead was perhaps more well- known for once flipping off fans at Invesco Field at Mile High, snarling at times in the media and allegedly kicking a fellow driver's bumper when the man struck his car in traffic. His struggling performance in the 2005 AFC Championship Game also resonates with many fans.

"My feeling is that he was leaning toward retirement, and that's been pretty much since the season's ended," Plummer's brother Eric said. "I don't know if it's a sour taste in his mouth or he's just had enough of football in his young life and he wants to move on to other things. He hasn't really asked me a whole lot as far as guidance, but when he did ask me, 'It's not my decision,' that's what I told him."

Plummer's final game as starter came Thanksgiving at Kansas City. Word leaked before that contest that if he had an off game, Cutler was going to replace him. The veteran was diplomatic when the benching became apparent after Denver's loss to the Chiefs. But the move apparently stung him more than he was letting on.

"Jake has expressed interest at the end of the year that he wanted to possibly move on and get away from football," Cutler said after reading Dr. Seuss to students at Denver's Columbine Elementary School as part a 'Read Across America' initiative. " . . . I think he's still a competitor. You never know what's going to happen in the future."

David Dunn, Plummer's agent, and Broncos officials didn't return calls seeking comment. But Plummer is said to be happy about the decision and excited about the future. It's also said it wouldn't have mattered where he was traded and he would have made the same move. Plummer's future had been linked to the Houston Texans, where he could have been reunited with former Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, but that deal never materialized, perhaps because the Texans believed the quarterback would be released outright and didn't want to forfeit a pick.

Plummer, 32, was scheduled to earn $5.3 million in base salary this season. The Broncos could go after a proration of the quarterback's signing bonus if he does step away. ESPN.com reported that Tampa Bay officials tried to persuade Plummer to accept the deal, which would have made Plummer a contestant for the Bucs' starting job, but he stood firm.

"He's played 10 years, and he's probably already got some kind of physical ramifications from that," said Plummer's brother, adding he hadn't spoken to Jake in about a week. "But I'm just not sure he wants to go to a new city, a new team and try to be 'the guy' again and then if it fails, all that. I'm just not sure he wants to tackle that whole thing again."

Parsons said the death of Plummer's close friend and college teammate, Pat Tillman, from friendly fire in Afghanistan helped put everything in perspective and perhaps "made it easy for him," to step away now, while he's still relatively healthy.

And while Atencio joked she had a non-disclosure clause about Plummer's future, she said, "I wouldn't be surprised for Jake to move on to Act II. He's such an interesting man."