Maurice Clarett, who legally challenged the league for early entry, still hasn't given up the thought he should have been a first-round choice in the NFL. Instead of suing the league, Clarett came up with a novel approach. He is putting his money where his mouth is. On Thursday, he signed a four-year contract in which he gave up the $410,000 of guaranteed money in order to secure an incentive-laden deal that could eventually earn him $7 million. The complex contract, which includes more than $5 million of performance escalators, forced the Broncos and Clarett's agents to negotiate well into Wednesday night. After a few hours of sleep, they resumed their talks Thursday morning and reached agreement by the afternoon. Clarett was the last pick in the third round of the draft. The contract was negotiated by Steve Feldman, Josh Luchs and Clarett's attorney and advisor, David Kenner. "This deal struck gives Maurice the opportunity to be paid like the first-round draft choice he was born to be," Feldman said.

The Denver Broncos signed their third-round selection, cornerback Domonique Foxworth, to a three-year deal worth $1.355 million. The former University of Maryland standout is the second of Denver's six choices to come to terms, joining seventh-round punter Paul Ernster. He is just the sixth player chosen on the first day of the draft to come to an agreement leaguewide. There have been only about 90 agreements from a draft pool of 255 players.

The Denver Broncos called defensive end John Engelberger and his agent, Robert Lattinville, to inform him they are trying to finalize a trade in which Engelberger goes to the Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers receive cornerback Willie Middlebrooks. Middlebrooks, a former 49ers first-round pick, has been shopped in trade conversations for the past couple of months. There was some interest by the Miami Dolphins, but the 49ers heated up their interest in the past couple of days. Middlebrooks, 26, started only two games during his four seasons with the Broncos. He's a big corner at 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, and is expected to fit in as the third corner in the 49ers 3-4 defense. In acquiring Engelberger, the Broncos retain the public relations notion that they weren't unloading Middlebrooks as a disappointing draft choice. He was the 24th choice in the first round. His contract voided after this season and is scheduled to be a free agent. Engelberger joins 16 other defensive linemen in Denver, but he comes to the team with talent. A former second-round choice who was the 35th pick in the 2000 draft, Engelberger started 58 of 78 games. The 49ers' switch to the 3-4 didn't fit Engelberger's abilities because he's a pure 4-3 defensive end.

The Denver Broncos backup safety Sam Brandon was arrested early Monday on domestic violence charges, marking the second tie in the past 13 months Brandon has been arrested for the same charge. This according to a report by the Douglas County Sheriff?s Department. According to Lt. Alan Stanton, Brandon was arrested between 1:30-2 a.m. July 4 and charged with third-degree assault, a Class 1 misdemeanor. He also was charged with criminal mischief for causing $100-$500 in damage.