1) McDaniels didn’t invent the concept of trading a future first round pick for a current second rounder (the Colts gave up even more to get Tony Ugoh a couple of years back and I’m not even sure if others have done it before them) nor was he the only one who employed the strategy in 2009 (the Panthers made a similar deal); personally, I’ll wait to see how Alphono Smith developes, how our Broncos and the Bears do this season and what becomes – or could have become – of our now traded first round pick before decrying its loss. Smith, by the way, may well be the nickel guy this year, but his future is obviously much brighter and more significant in the eyes of management… that’s something J. Williams and Bell may not bring to the table.

2) All I know about Cutler-for-Cassel is that we were approached about it, almost certainly could have done it if we wanted to and we didn’t. God knows what else was on the table as well. Maybe we were getting Cassel and a couple of solid draft picks from the Pats and/or Bucs; the point is we’ll never know unless someone involved in trade talks publicly speaks out about it. One more thing: funny how when Belichick turned Cassel and Vrabel into a high second rounder instead of getting the Chiefs #3 overall pick people were saying how sly he was avoiding the big money at the top of round one and focusing on the best value portion of the draft in the early second round.

3) Clady was certainly the best LT in the NFL last year and he’s only going to get better, but our whole O-line was historically good. Having Harris cover Simms’ blindside would not be the worst of things, I don’t think. Obviously it’s not optimal, but anything other than not optimal is not necessarily bad. Also, if your third point is about a back-up QB (or a signing good enough to earn the starter’s job over his handpicked and – objectively speaking – solid guy) then you can’t really be that upset.

4) Just to be clear, the Quinn trade was two third round picks for a second and a fourth. The trade itself was, my almost any measure, reasonable and fair. If you have a problem with the specific selections, that’s fine. I just don’t understand why people are so intent on saying that is was a mistake without seeing any of the players in question amke a single play at the next level. I, for example, once hated the Ryan Harris pick and ranted against it here; I was sure he’d bust and I wanted my guy: Doug Free, OT, Northern Illinois. Well, I was predictably wrong. Ditto for a large chunk of our fandom and Eddie Royal, though by then I had learned to hold my tongue.

5) We have a whole new front seven. Sure, many have the same names on their jerseys and perhaps even the same numbers, but they’re all playing new positions. Throw everything you know about anyone already on our roster in the front seven out, because the new system is radically different. Once again, why not wait until you see how the depth chart shakes out and how the guys do at their new positions and in the new scheme before insisting that we’ve failed?

I guess the bottom line is this: why must you grade McDaniels, Xanders, Bowlen, our team and this franchise before giving them the chance to prove themselves one way or the other? By all means, be skeptical. For instance, I didn’t like the Robert Ayers pick, don’t know how Quinn will fit and am skeptical that the 3-4 switch will cure all that ails our defense. That said, I’m willing to give them their shot before making up my mind about it.

Your comment here was well reasoned. Some will agree, others will not and the majority will likely remain silent. But I thank you for sharing and welcome your continued participation at this level. See? It’s not so hard! Go Broncos!

It’s just that I’ve never bought that McD was trying to trade Cutler for Cassel straight up, for the very reason you say that it would have been stupid. Beyond that, I think I’m willing to give McD the benefit of the doubt on the other questionable picks. If I thought he was stupid enough to really try to trade Cutler straight up for Cassel, I’d probably be pessimistic about those picks too.
I absolutely agree that McD has made good choices on the coaching staff- especially on the defensive end of the field. Nolan > Slowik.

OK, I’ll bite. Where we seem to differ is in my underlying assumption that McDaniels and Xanders (who’s missing in your narrative) have a coherent strategy. It may not be a strategy we all love, but the pieces fit on their own terms. In order:

1) You make a good point that’s been missing in the criticism of the Smith trade. You’re right on the face of it: they could have kept the pick, and traded down in subsequent years. It’s a good point. But there are legitimate quibbles. The first is: the salary cap, and not Bowlen’s wallet, is the issue. Clady, Royal, Marshall and Harris are all in for big paydays down the road. Maybe your solution would work with the salary cap, and maybe it wouldn’t.

The next point is that you’re putting a lot of stock in the notion that next year’s draft is going to be an epic draft. That could be. It might also not be. Meanwhile, Alphonso Smith was a good player (a first-round talent by all the evaluator’s measures) available now at a lower cost. There is value in getting him at a low pay slot, and there is value in getting that draft pick on the field a year earlier. It might not mesh well with your concept of value, but it is a concept of value nonetheless.

Finally: Bowlen is a proud man and lots of fans are mocking the franchise and assuming that the coach has the intelligence of an amoeba and the temperament of a chihuahua. I’m sure there is pressure to win now. And that should be a note to all the fans of who’ve gone into hating mode: when people panic about the team, owners -even goode ones like Bowlen - get rash.

2) The proposed trade was Cutler for Cassell AND DRAFT PICKS. I have not seen an account based on actual reporting that suggests otherwise. You may not like it anyway, but that was the proposal. It’s also worth noting, by the way, that most accounts have McDaniels turning the proposal down. At least, once he said that publicly right before Cutler was shipped off to the Second City, all of the “what really happened” stories dried up. Seems like nobody could get anything to discredit the point.

3) Sure, a left-handed QB would squander some of Clady’s value. But the other team’s top pass rusher was often lining up against Harris by the end of last season anyway. Also: Harris is a monster. If QB is such an important position that everybody’s ready to declare the coach a lower lifeform over it, shouldn’t the point be to get the best talent available and go from there?

4) I don’t really love blocking TEs either. But all the scouting reports on Quinn say he’s good, and to get to the Superbowl out of the AFC, it’, let’s see, Steelers, Patriots, Ravens, Chargers. You know, 3-4, 3-4, 3-4. 3-4.

5) By all accounts this was a crummy draft for front-seven players. A lot of people had Chris Baker going in the third round, where you wanted them to take a D-lineman. They got him as a UDFA — isn’t that the very definition of value? Also, Robert Ayers is a front-seven player. They drafted him in the first round. In general, I want big beef up front, too. But picking a mediocre player with a high pick doesn’t make that player a better player — it makes it a pick spent poorly on value.

The other key point here is that if you go to Football Outsiders, you’ll find that the Broncos’ D-Line in 2008 was not as bad as their secondary. On short-yardage run situations, they were league-average. The Broncos led the leage in runs of 20+ and 40+ yards — runs on which the guy pushed past the DL, watched Nate Webester run right by him, then got a safety to whiff. To that end, I like signing Brian Dawkins. I like signing Hill. I think it’s notable that Alphonso Smith is good in run support. I like getting rid of Nate Webster and moving DJ Williams inside. I like standing Doom up and not wearing him out. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, but it does seem like a coherent plan to me. It’s just not as obvious as drafting workout warrior Orakpo at #12.

After living with a coach who brought in high-cost free agent busts annually, don’t these points seem to be of lesser importance. Nobody who’s panning the Brocnos’ draft is saying they took lousy players. Nobody. Maybe I wish they took Jarron Gilbert instead of Quinn or something like that. But people seem to think he’ll be a good player. And Alphonso Smith is good at coverage, run support, pass-rush, kick returns and kick-blocking. The focus on good players who do a lot of things well is refreshing.

This notion of the Colts and other teams trading up to get a 2nd rounder with a 1st rounder has one glaring difference, the Colts were not and did not pick in the top ten of the next years draft, sorry, but this team has a high probability of drafting high again next year so you sold a possible top 10 pick for a guy who may play nickle back this year and hopefully develops into a Number 2 corner? Not much sense in that, the Ugoh made a lot more sense since Ugoh started right away and protected the Colts best assesst in Peyton Manning.

No arguement on the second point, I agree completely that was a poor choice at best.

I really don’t care on the third point, Simms was signed to be a backup and he is a good upgrade over who we had as a backup. Blocking schemes can be adjusted for a QB and the idea of the traditional pass rush always coming from the QB blind side is somewhat outdated. Basically teams are going to try to exploit an O-line wherever they think they can get the best matchup, I would be more worried about resigning Weigman and keeping him happy.

4. Not a fan of that trade, not so much in what we gave up, but I don’t see a great value in the second round for a blocking TE, to me this signals more that McDaniels is looking to probably unload our current TE’s in the coming years.

5. I really don’t think there was much depth in the front seven in this years draft, that is no fault of the staff, the draft is what it is, what does annoy me is that there is tremendouos depth next year and we gambled away alot of what we could do next season.

The jury is still out on any of the moves, picks or decisions made. I’ll wait until camp and the season to make a judgement if is all pans out. Which, by the way I think we will be surprised by the success. Don’t know about a 13 win season, but 9 or 10 are certainly realistic IMO.

I think the thought on Bell/Williams is fair, but a weak hope. KC and SD (are main rivals) are pass-happy teams with a lot of talent. Teams relying on 2x solid CBs really pay the price in the season b/c injuries come and teams try to take advantage of the nickel. Shoot, I wanted Jenkins early in the draft. I totally thought a CB could be in play early NLT the 3rd rd.

Cutler over Cassel….we just disagree. But later, I see you mention Losman, Grossman, and Boller. Those guys are underperforming for a reason and have to make me question your judgment when it comes to talent at the QB position. As you are on the right side of the MSM view on Cutler at this point, I guess you can feel good about Cutler, but in two years I promise to ask you to accept and acknowledge that you have no concept of the qualities that make a good QB…..or else, I’ll do the same if Cutler is playing better than Orton or whoever.

On Quinn, you know, I don’t like this one too much either. I became a believer reading more about this 3x TE set (which no one knows if we will ever see for prolonged periods), but after hearing Putzier talk about him with the media, I’m convinced we will not see him much this year. That means it was a reach. I think McD has visions (maybe the 3x TE set) of something special he wants to do and he possibly fell in love with the vision and found a guy to fall in love with in the draft that he thought was a requirement to fufill the vision. It is atleast a reach and possibly a mistake. I think in 3x years we’ll know, b/c he can still be great. I just don’t think it will happen quickly.

If I can speculate, I think you love the Broncs, but don’t like Pats or Belicheck. That would lead me to your conclusions as well. I think much of the angst against McD is this view of him as a Belicheck/Mangini type know-it-all. The fact is this kid is gonna be more like his Dad than anyone. It will take 3x years for people to figure that out. He certainly has the defensiveness that Belicheck and Mangini demonstrate, but there is plenty more that seems quite different.

I think next year he’ll be your coach and Cutler will be in Washington with Shanny after the entire Bears Ft office and staff is replaced (it won’t be Cutler’s fault).

Whenever I look at our team and the offseason/draft moves we make I try my best to reserve my comments until I have something to back up what I have to say. I admit last year when Denver drafted Eddie Royal I was clinching my teeth saying to myself, What are they thinking! Why, because Limas Sweed and DeSean Jackson were still on the board and I totally believed these were the best wide receivers in the draft. Now the jury is still out on Limas sweed (Pitt) but I think most would agree that Jackson (Phil) had a pretty good rookie season. That being said, I now realize that I judged the Royal pick without first tasting the spaghetti (leading into my analogy here).

  I think this sums it up. I liken rash judgments to watching my wife make spaghetti. I watch her put in the ingredients and say to myself, love it, love everything about it. All this without event tasting it. Now if I taste it and it’s horrible then I look like a fool, I rushed to judgment. Now the same can be said for the reverse. Watched her make it, didn’t agree with anything she put in it, it tastes horrible. I haven’t even tasted it yet! Maybe it will turn out just fine and I will love it……..maybe Orange and Blue spaghetti is delicious!

Go Broncos 13-3!

1)There’s more to playing CB than being 5 feet 10 inces tall. Darrent Williams comes to mind.

2) Jay Cutler is a Chicago Bear and I can think of nobody that saw any logic in Cassell for Cutler. Nobody. Cutler for 3 picks and a statistically stronger QB— doesn’t sound like pure voodoo to me. But that’s just me.

3) There is no rule that says the opponent has to line up its best across from the left tackle, whether the QB is left handed or not. I don’t have the time to provide video proof, but my instincts are telling me that QB’s get sacked by guys they can see all the time.. Its just a gut feeling I have.

4) I was as baffled by Quinn initially as anybody. However, this isn’t the Mike Shannahan Broncos or the Mike Shannahan scheme anymore. Apparently McX sees a need there. Rather than assume that he was just trading and picking for sport, I can only reserve judgement for when I see where and why Quinn is important.

5) Mike Shannahan, Dan Reeves, Wade Phillips, Scott Pioli, Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels and Brian Xanders all share one thing in common: they cannot magically create players that do not exists. I’ll take team building and future building over forcing a square peg into a round hole every day of the week. I’ve challenged the draft critics one more time to give some alternatives. Orakpo over Moreno? They saw Ayers as the same type of player and liked him better. Does Orakpo back up Ayers or vise versa? Who over Ayers? LB? You’ve got Williams at RILB and Ayers slotted as the rush backer? So you waste a first or second rounder on two linebacker positions that won’t factor on third down? Nobody to cover the TE? Boss Bailey? Josh Barrett? Both guys got heavy props last year for their work against the TE.

thanks for a thoughtful and clearly articulated post.

the points where i might be inclined to disagree with you have all been mentioned above, so i won’t space reiterating them here.

your contribution is greatly enjoyed and appreciated.