You can look at his stats and tell me all the wonderful things he's done, i don't care. When i watched him play this year, he looked like he was starting to show signs of wear and tear. Not the same player he was years ago. And not worth the type of cash you're talking about IMO.
You can give me your rhetoric about him "wanting to win" and how he still put up good stats on a bad team, but that's the same garbage people were trying to sell about Frank Gore last year. If you actually watched Gore play last year and didn't just go based on reputation and stats, It would be obvious that he was close to being done and not close to player he once was.
Your assessment of Chris Ivory is way off. Stop getting caught up in the announcers calling him a battering ram and seeing him pumped up as a good get in fantasy football. Watch the guy play for five games. Almost every single rush of his is 2-3 yards where he smacks into his own OL like how Maroney used to. The guy has poor vision. Once a game he'll bust a 25-30 yard run thru a gaping hole which will bring his YPA up near 4.0. If given the choice of Bolden or Ivory, i would definitely choose Bolden. You can get Bolden for a much better price and he's far more versatile with his ability to catch the ball and play special teams.
Do you honestly think that having Matt Forte or Chris Ivory in the backfield Would have changed anything in Denver?
I don't. Our offensive line was getting blown off the ball completely on almost every play. Any time a RB was handed the ball, there was immediate penetration with no where to go. Our five man offensive line was getting worked by a three man defensive front. I don't care if you have Adrian Peterson -- With that type of line play, you're not running the ball effectively regardless of who is in the backfield.
Bottom line: Upgrading the personnel on the offensive line is more important than getting a "stud RB." Not only does the OL protect Brady, it dictates how well you run the ball.
A good example of this from this year can be seen when you look at Demarco Murray and Darren McFadden. Murray had a fabulous season with Dallas in 2014, signs with Philly and is absolutely abysmal. McFadden has been deemed a JAG, done, fragile, soft, overrated yet gets signed by Dallas and has his best season in years despite playing they majority of the season with Matt Cassel as his QB - AKA no real passing threat at QB.
How does this happen? Offensive line play. Dallas' offensive line is one of the best in the league, Philly's is one of the worst.
Philly went out and got that "stud RB" yet could not run the ball at all. He's wasting away. When the OL can't get any push or open any holes, it doesn't matter who you have back there.
Dallas kept its very good OL in place and brought in a mid-level RB replacement, and got excellent production out of him especially when you consider how poor their QB play was.
OL > RB. Stop getting caught up in names. Our problem hasn't been that we don't have a Doug Martin or Chris Ivory. Our problem has been that we lost excellent offensive lineman like Brian Waters and Logan Mankins over the last few years and haven't found capable replacements yet.
