The clock is ticking, John Elway’s stomach is churning and Elvis Dumervil has a tough decision to make. By no later than 1:59 p.m. Friday, Dumervil will either take a pay cut or be gone from the Broncos.

“These are the deals that wrench your gut,” Elway said Thursday. Elway stood in team headquarters, one floor above the Denver locker room, in the executive offices where he must make tough decisions that impact the lives of athletes.

Dumvervil can take the offer. Or leave.

“As an ex-player, I hate to see that. I hated to see that happen to a teammate. And I hate having to do it, in the position I’m in. But I’ve got to do what’s best for this football team,” Elway said.

Question is: Would you take a 35 percent pay cut to keep a job you loved? So should Dumervil? It appears to be his only choice, if he wants to remain in Denver.

The Broncos have determined it would be foolhardy to pay Dumervil $12 million per year, a salary the team obviously thinks is extravagant.

“It’s not all about dollars. But when it’s way out of whack? Then it’s so out of whack that you’ve got to say: That (salary) can’t be it. Especially when you look at the market and what’s out there now,” Elway told me. “It’s so far out of whack. Hopefully, he realizes that.”

In the NFL, a soft heart can’t get in the way of a tough negotiating stance.

The Broncos made splashy headlines by signing Pro Bowl receiver Wes Welker off the New England Patriots roster. Denver also fortified its offensive line, defensive line and secondary through free agency, leaving very little wiggle room under the salary cap to talk turkey with Dumervil.

Sure, Dumvervil could look at remaining in Denver as his best shot to win a Super Bowl.

But who could blame him, though, if Dumvervil felt as if every day he showed up to work at Dove Valley would serve as a reminder of all his money the team handed over to free agents, players who have not donated blood, sweat and 63½ career sacks to the Broncos’ cause?

The going rate for pass-rushing defensive ends is in the range of $7.5-8 million per year. You do the math, and it’s pretty obvious how big of a salary rollback Dumveril is going to have to take from the $12 million he was originally slated to be paid for the upcoming season.

Ouch.

“We want to get something done with Elvis,” Elway stressed. “That’s the perfect world.”

This situation stinks. For Doom. For the Broncos. For everybody.

“It isn’t just about the money. We also know what Elvis brings to the team and what his leadership means,” Elway said. “But, at a certain point, you have to make a decision, one way or another. Is it worth doing X and losing Y?”

It doesn’t sound as if the Broncos are willing or able to budge. It will be on Dumervil to capitulate. Is that fair? No. Is that life in pro football? Yes.

Dumervil is a better football player than 33-year-old free agent Dwight Freeney. While Freeney is a down-and-distance specialist at this point in his career, he fits the Denver budget.

This is the flip side to all the fist pumps in celebration of landing shiny new talent during NFL free agency.

Hey, Doom.

Stay.

Denver is where you belong. Quarterback Peyton Manning needs you. Broncos Country doesn’t want you to leave.

But that’s easy for me to say. It’s not my money, or my career.

In the NFL, the toughest part of taking a hefty pay cut is never the reduction in dollars. The real pain for any man is in choking down his pride.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053, mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla