Cowboys and Broncos Tentatively Agree to Dorsett Deal

DALLAS — Dallas Cowboys President Tex Schramm said Sunday he thinks an agreement can be reached that will send disgruntled running back Tony Dorsett to the Denver Broncos.

“We have reached a tentative (financial) agreement with Dorsett and he believes that he’s reached a tentative agreement with Denver,” Schramm said in a telephone interview from his home. “The agreement that hasn’t been reached is what Denver will give us for his rights.”

Schramm said he had not spoken over the weekend with Broncos officials, but added, “I have discussed the situation briefly with (Broncos coach Dan) Reeves and I think that we can reach some kind of agreement.”

Dorsett, who has sought a trade from the Cowboys since assuming second-string duties behind Herschel Walker last fall, agreed in principle Saturday on a plan that would move him to Denver, his financial adviser said.

Schramm said he spoke Saturday to Dorsett’s adviser, Bill Love of Austin, Tex., but that he had not yet talked to Dorsett and didn’t expect to begin talks with Denver officials until Thursday or Friday.

The Denver contract would reportedly pay Dorsett $500,000 in each of the next two years and about $200,000 per year toward an annuity. The refusal by both teams to pay the annuity had been a stumbling block in earlier talks.

A Denver television station has reported a deal that would give Dallas a conditional middle-round draft pick for Dorsett, which means the pick could go higher depending on Dorsett’s performance levels, but neither Reeves nor Schramm would confirm that.

Dorsett could not immediately be reached Sunday, but he earlier had said: “This is just a new chapter in Tony Dorsett’s football career. I don’t think I’ll be looking back.”