The only thing missing on Champ Bailey’s brilliant NFL resume is being called “champ.’’
Now, after the Broncos 43-8 loss to the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday night at MetLife Stadium, you wonder if that ever will happen for the Broncos veteran cornerback, who is 35 and entering the last year of his contract that is scheduled to pay him $9 million in 2014.
After politely deflecting questions about his future all week, after the loss Sunday night, Bailey was resolute about his intention to continue playing.
“This is disappointing, but I’m an optimist and I’m not done playing football, so I feel like I’m going to give myself another shot next year,’’ Bailey said. “One thing I do know is no team stays the same very year. There will be changes made. We’ll see. I’ll just play it by ear. It’s definitely not any player’s call. It’s just one of those things where you wait and see.’’
Asked if he has any doubts he will return for an 11th season in Denver, Bailey said, “It’s not in my hands.’’
“I’m always fighting to make the team anyway,’’ he said. “That’s how I look at every OTA, minicamp and training camp. I’m always approaching it like I’m one of the bottom guys that’s trying to make the team as a free agent.’’
Bailey has been asked all week about his future. When you have played in the NFL for 15 seasons, been named to 12 Pro Bowls (the most in league history for cornerbacks), been All-Pro seven times, intercepted 52 passes and are a lock to be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee, these are the kinds of questions you get.
Sunday was Bailey’s Super Bowl after having played 215 regular-season games.
“It felt good,’’ he said. “You could see the emotions there before the game. Everyone was hyped. But the game killed all that joy with the way we were playing. With the way things were going it definitely wasn’t exciting.’’
If this was the end for Bailey, it was a forgettable ending, because he had a hand in the blowout loss, allowing a killer 37-yard Russell Wilson completion to Doug Baldwin, who had beaten him by several yards. Four plays after the Baldwin catch, the Seahawks kicked a field goal to take an 8-0 lead.
A year ago, when the Broncos season ended in a double-overtime loss to the Ravens, Bailey had a hand in yielding two touchdowns to Baltimore’s Torrey Smith. That game was followed by criticism that Bailey had lost a step and was not the same player he once was.
“I’m supposed to lose a step at some point,’’ Bailey said during the week. “It’s going to happen. You can’t avoid it. Every old player gets old. I don’t feel like I can’t play the game and that’s all that matters.”