Rumors are swirling that the seemingly abrupt decision of the Broncos to cut running back Travis Henry was ultimately prompted by an altercation of some kind involving Henry and coach Mike Shanahan.

Though we’re not hearing that Henry pulled a Latrell Sprewell on the Broncos’ head coach, or that the incident in any way turned physical, several sources have told us that there was some type of unpleasant exchange between the two at some point within the past few weeks.

Presumably, the Broncos waited to cut Henry until after they got Michael Pittman under contract.  If Henry had been cut before Pittman was signed, Pittman’s leverage would have increased.

And so the end result is that Shanahan has wasted another $6.7 million of owner Pat Bowlen’s money.  Despite the apparent fact that the decision didn’t arise from Henry’s football skills, the reality that the Broncos were forced to part ways with Henry due to his attitude and/or off-field conduct further proves that Shanahan simply isn’t a good judge of character when it comes to football players.

But he’s definitely a good coach, because as a coach he continues to generally achieve at a relatively high level despite having one hand tied behind his back via his generally poor decisions in free agency and the draft.