Football
Associated Press 19y

Gold gets wish to return to Denver

DENVER -- It's been a good week for Ian Gold.

The linebacker, who was drafted out of the University of
Michigan by Denver in the second round of the 2000 NFL draft,
became a free agent last year and spent the season with Tampa Bay,
which released him Tuesday.

On Thursday, the Broncos announced they signed Gold. The Rocky
Mountain News reported he received a six-year contract and an $8.5
million signing bonus. Gold also gets to return to the city where
he wants to live and to play the position he wants at weak-side
linebacker.

"I always kind of felt, even after I signed in Tampa, that
there was a possibility I could end up back in Denver," he said.

The 6-foot, 223-pound Gold became a starter for the Broncos in
2002 and made 6½ sacks. The season before that, he made the Pro
Bowl as a special teams player. He has 374 tackles in 70 games with
the Broncos and Buccaneers over his five seasons.

Gold said he was told Al Wilson would play middle linebacker and
D.J. Williams likely will be shifted to the strong side when Denver
runs a four-man front.

The Broncos had tried to keep Gold last year but his contract
demands proved too high.

"I was trying to do things with my best interests in mind,"
Gold said of his departure last spring. "In doing that, where it
was headed in Denver wasn't something I wanted to be a part of. Did
I make a mistake? No because I'm a lot happier now than I know I
would have been had I signed that deal last year in Denver."

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