Demaryius Thomas isn’t happy with the Denver Broncos front office

THE NFL is a business after all, but one wide receiver has slammed his former coach for misleading him prior to being traded.

Demaryius Thomas isn’t happy with the Broncos after he was traded away.

AWAITING Demaryius Thomas after his first NFL game away from the Denver Broncos were Peyton Manning and his children.

The leaders of today’s Broncos, though, Thomas wants nothing to do with.

A day after Thomas’ emotional first game with the Houston Texans — coincidentally against the Broncos, with whom he spent his first eight and a half seasons after being a first-round pick in 2010 — he unloaded, calling out GM John Elway and coach Vance Joseph for their handling of the trade along with everything leading up to it.

Thomas, a four-time Pro Bowler who has lost half a step at 30, was hearing the whispers he was to blame for a Broncos team that has fallen to 3-5.

“I got people from Denver, like, they really wanted to get rid of you because they said you were the problem on offence,” Thomas said Monday on Orange & Blue radio in Denver.

Thomas got a bit of payback over the Broncos on Monday.

“I’m like, really, bro? People kept stirring it on.

“I heard they were saying that Vance was saying something, and Elway was saying something. (I) never had anything bad to say about nobody … I just did my job. Kept it as professional as I could. For y’all to say I was one of the reasons that offence wasn’t going, man, that hurt.”

What made it extra painful was Joseph’s vow, Thomas said, before what would become his final Broncos game, that the trade rumours were just that.

“Even leading up to the Kansas City game (on Oct. 29), it was tough because that one day, I didn’t say anything to anybody. I walk into the job and Vance Joseph walks up to me and says, ‘Don’t listen to the trade talks, it’s not true.’

“Before the season started, the trade talk was still going, and nobody said anything to me. Why come to me Monday when it’s the same talk? When he said that to me, I said, ‘How is it not true? My agent called me today and said Elway wanted a fifth-round pick for me.’

“So, we’re telling stories to each other now? I thought we were going to be men about this.”

Thomas made a winning debut in Houston, against Denver.

The cooling between the Super Bowl champion and his longtime franchise began this preseason, when Thomas apparently was upset he was not named a captain.

According to Thomas, Elway asked him to adjust his leading style — Thomas described himself as a player who “gets on” guys for the good of the team. It was advice that did not come with a “C.”

“When I had the meeting (with Elway), I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to be a captain again,’” Thomas said.

“I go to the meeting room and then, it’s like every player came to me and was like, ‘How are you not a captain? We picked you.’ It’s like, ‘Man, it’s all good, bro. I’m going to be here for y’all.’ … To not be a captain, it was just heartbreaking.”

Joseph brushed off the anger of Thomas, who caught three passes for 61 yards in the Texans’ 19-17 win Monday.

“I think it’s just a player who won a game, who was excited to win the game,” Joseph told reporters Monday, via ESPN.

This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Demaryius Thomas isn’t happy with the Denver Broncos front office