All Action, No Talk

The good news is, Denver traded for him, and his four-year contract is worth a reported $2.5 million. The bad news is, the Broncos stuck him at right corner-back again. He still couldn't play the position. That first year, 1986, he sat out half the season on injured reserve with a muscle pull in his right thigh. When he was able to play, he was backup to cornerback Mike Harden. Somebody asked Haynes if he was a nickelback. "Nickelback? I'm a pennyback," he said.

Just hours before kickoff at last year's Super Bowl game between his present and former clubs, Haynes talked to the Giants' coaching staff about the possibility of his rejoining the team. Nothing came of it, and then, to cap off a dismal year, Haynes had to suffer through the Giants' 39-20 defeat of the Broncos. "That week was embarrassing," Haynes says. "The Giants guys remembered me when I was at the top of my game, and now, here I was, and I couldn't start. And then to lose. I mean, to lose to Buffalo or something is no big deal. But to lose to your friends, that really hurt."

Not only was he unhappy, he was disconnected from his team. Broncos owner Pat Bowlen once called Haynes "an outsider" who "hasn't quite fit in." Haynes buys that, even today. "An outsider? Yeah, I like that. I don't want to be an insider. I don't hang around with a lot of football players. I think most football players are one-dimensional.... I like to be around well-rounded people."

After the Super Bowl, muffled drumbeats were heard. "I was going to be traded," Haynes says. "No question in my mind." Well, not exactly. Early in training camp Reeves moved Haynes to the left side to see if he could beat out Wright, the immensely popular five-time All-Pro.

Not many folks in Denver would have missed Haynes if he had gotten the ax. His lack of gregariousness was one thing, and it further hurt that his off-season home is in Upper Saddle River, N.J. Even John Elway took heat his first two years in Denver until he moved there. Haynes has a hard time understanding a town that would send more than 63,000 people to Mile High Stadium just to wish their team well before the trip to Pasadena for the Super Bowl last season. "They [Broncos fans] remind me of religious zealots in the Middle East. I mean, come on, they put way too much emphasis on the Broncos here."

That's a zing for the members of the Denver media, too, some of whom wear orange-and-blue-tinted glasses. If a Bronco story doesn't lead the sportscast on most Denver TV stations, somebody big better have died. "They want you to do interviews around the clock, every day," says Haynes, who has refused to be interviewed since Super Bowl XXI. "I can't concentrate on my job. Since I stopped doing interviews, I feel so much better about my game and myself."

Haynes realizes that his silence might hurt him. Exhibit A: When Haynes gave up two touchdown passes in an exhibition game against Miami last August, the Rocky Mountain News ran a cartoon that showed a trampled Haynes lying on the goal line with a welcome mat on his chest and the caption: "Some performances speak for themselves."

Says Haynes, "Look, these are National Enquirer papers in this town.... It has become a personal vendetta to crucify me for their personal beliefs. I don't know why. I've done nothing objectionable. I haven't landed in jail. I haven't abused anything or anybody."

Haynes's coolness to the press isn't what nettled Reeves. He had his own gripes. Haynes didn't participate in the Broncos' conditioning program this season ("I don't like talky-talky workouts," he says), and most of all, Haynes didn't practice hard. If a sweep went to the opposite side, Haynes wouldn't pursue. If the pattern was deep, Haynes would stay with his man through the man's move but let the receiver run for the ball by himself. If most NFL players are like the family dog, falling all over themselves to win affection, Haynes is the family cat, coolly uninterested.

Says Haynes, "If I'm on a receiver and he makes a break and my footwork is down and my timing is right, then that's all I care about.... I do exactly what I need to do to get ready for the game." And the point is, as Mowatt says, "When Sunday comes, Mark pushes a different button."