Fax Sax Elvis; Elvis Sacks Agent; Dumb and Dumbervil.

In the aftermath of Snafufaxgate, the Broncos immediately should move on and replace one famous name (Elvis) with another (Abraham).

Elvis Dumervil already has replaced his agent with Peyton Manning’s agent. But, like the fax, it was too late coming.

At 2 p.m. Friday I walked into Broncos headquarters in preparation for an update-of-the-team conversation with coach John Fox in his office.

John Elway supposedly had pulled off a heist reminiscent of The Great Train Robbery of 1963 and The Awesome Manning Signing of 2012.

In a three-day span, the Broncos negotiated new contracts with wide receiver Wes Welker, offensive guard Louis Vasquez, defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, linebacker Stewart Bradley, defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson and finally, just minutes before and just in time, defensive end Elvis Dumervil.

An orange rush was felt in Denver.

But, as I opened the glass door, all Tartarus broke out.

There was no peace in Dove Valley.

I stood there waiting for bricks to crack, windows to shatter and jaws to drop.

Word came down (literally) that at 1:59 p.m. the Broncos had chosen to release Dumervil because his signed, restructured contract had not been received before the 2 p.m., league-imposed deadline. The document spit out of the fax machine six minutes late.

Fox in Fix over Fax? Understandably, the coach would be in no mood for a casual tête-…-tête. His evaluation of the Broncos has to wait until another day. There is a big hole in his chart … and maybe in his heart.

So, the Broncos need a defensive end. Will he be John Abraham, Dwight Freeney, Osi Umeryiora, Israel Idonije or Dumervil himself?

I would choose Abraham, who was cut by the Falcons. Although he will be 34 in May, Abraham had 10 sacks in the past season (Elvis had 11) and a reasonable price tag ($4.4 million). Abraham already has visited three other teams, including the Patriots, but no deal has been reached.

Elvis was all shook up by the revolting developments and dumped Marty Magid, who owns a sports management firm in Conshohocken, Pa. Magid claims, on his website, to have “successfully negotiated contracts for hundreds of players.” He lists 67, including former Broncos Cassius Vaughn, Travis Henry and Dumervil — for whom he has unsuccessfully negotiated a contract.

John Elway was “fuming” after the Dumervil-Magid chaos; apparently, Dumervil was too. His association with the agent abruptly ended, and Dumervil wants to get back in the Broncos’ good graces. Conspiracists believe that the Broncos didn’t really want Dumervil to return, so Elway tricked him; that Magid and Dumervil wanted to stick it to the Broncos with their last-minute tactics; and that an NFL team rushed in Friday at 1:45 p.m. and offered more money than the Broncos. All alone in the Broncos’ parking lot Friday afternoon, I looked behind the practice field’s grassy knoll for culprits.

Magid naturally blamed the Broncos for the monumental mistake. John Elway naturally blamed Magid and Dumervil. Everybody, including NFL executives, should be blamed for using old-world fax technology when legal contracts can be scanned and sent on computers or iPads, with signatures, within seconds. It should be noted that, according to Mapquest, a FedEx Kinko’s is located 3.5 miles from Dumervil’s (second) home in a Miami suburb. What took him so long? Magid could have purchased his client a copier-fax-printer-scanner for $99. Or Elvis could have been at his (first) home minutes from the Broncos’ facility — and appeared in person.

The Broncos, who set their own deadline of 1 p.m., didn’t have to accept Magid’s call and Dumervil’s delayed decision. They could have provided Dumervil with a more attractive proposal sooner. They got stuck with a high salary cap strike (almost $5 million).

But the embarrassing episode occurred, and even though the players union is “investigating” and the league probably will be “investigating” and several Sherlocks will be “investigating,” a do-over shouldn’t be expected.

In the meantime, don’t dismiss the Broncos’ upgrades at wide receiver, defensive tackle, offensive guard and cornerback. The concerns remain at running back and safety (based on what happened to Quinton Carter in Las Vegas not staying in Las Vegas). There also are questions at middle linebacker and center. Who’s going to be the third quarterback and the fourth wide receiver? What about the backups on offense and defense? What’s to become of Chris Kuper and Joe Mays?

The Broncos have a bit more free-agent wiggle room, and the college draft is 39 days away.

First, however, the Broncos must figure out the defensive end debacle.

That’s the fax, Jax.

Woody Paige: 303-954-1095, woody@woodypaige.com or twitter.com/woodypaige