Kudos for Coach McDaniels

Just spent a little time over on the Detroit list … you would think those guys just won the Cuttler lottery. The fact is there is nothing wrong with Alphonzo Smith as a second year player – maybe not quite the first round material we hoped for but more than capable at his position. He had a solid preseason with some very noticeable plays. What really struck me when I read the Detroit posts is that they are celbrating the chance to go through our trash can! We throw out better DBs than they are able to bring into camp. I think a lot of kudos go to McD for placing himself in the position of having to cut an Alphonzo Smith.

For all you that seemingly will condemn McDaniels forever over this, the thrid draft choice he made only a few months after arriving as head coach and without fully complementary staff of scouts, I say BS.

Frist, name me one coach, GM Owner, team or organization that has NOT made a mistake with a 1st or 2nd round draft pick. There are NONE.

Next, Denver was not the only team or scounting organization that had Smith projected to be drafted EXECTLY where he was. Now I do realize that a number of people whos idea of working out is talk football while doing 12 oz. arm curls and they ALL agree, after the fact, that Smith was a mistake.

Bu that does not speak to McX’s ability to judge talent and make some great draft decisions. Now the fact that they did an even BETTER job this year in aquiring both Cox and Thompson does not deminish that. Their ability at evaluation is what made Smith expendable in the first place.

So far McDaniels draft choices have been head over heels better than what had been done before they arrived. Especially in the area of defensive players.

I am thrillled at both drafts that have occurred under McX and im going to love to see the contributions that collection of talent is going to display for us this season. Its time to move on with the moaning and whining over one pick that people have decided they didnt like.

I cannot find anywhere where McDaniels himself openly admitted to making a mistake. Broncoman, are you suggesting the trade is an admission? Your write up basically states that McDaniels himself made the mistake. I am just curious where this information came from.

 Ken Whisenhunt = Matt Leinart

   We would have kept Phonz and let him develope (corners should always be given a while to adapt) but with the arrival of Cox, Syd’Quan and Vaughn, we had no choice but to let Smith (who I still think can be a nasty playmaking corner in this league) walk. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t so much an admission of a mistake as it was other young corners stepping up. Correct me if I’m wrong guys but I think McDaniels wrote the defensive back draft manual in the New England “Draft Bible” during his tenure as a defensive assistant there. Make no bones about it, our coach knows a thing or two about the defensive backfield and Alphonso Smith was no mistake, but when you have the best starting corner tandem in the league and 3 rookies who are playing lights out it’s pretty easy to get lost in the shuffle.

I wonder whether or not McX dangled either Smith, Cox, or Thompson or Vaughn, and Detroit chose Smith? Just a thought.

  These guys are too valuable to trade for a 7th round tight end, but I would not be shocked if Vaughn does end up getting moved somewhere before it’s all over. If I were coach, I would have traded Nate Jones before any of the others. He looked way too mediocre during the pre-season for my liking and I still think Phonz has what it takes.

Picking Jay Cutler was a mistake and never was brought down upon Shanahan’s head. He should have evaluated that player out a lot more than McD/X did with Smith!

Would not be completely shocked by the move with Alphonso Smith. He consistently been raising the level of competition at every position and getting rid of the players that can’t handle the pressure. Who punts balls in practice and gets all pouty when competition comes in at their positions? Not a player that’s ready to compete under pressure for any big titles.

Whether or not any of us agree with the FO decisions, no one should be surprised that McDaniels somehow overcame is alleged “ego” to let go of Smith. As far as i’ve seen – from watching every single press release and every local interview on CBS4 of Josh McDaniels – he is far from having a dangerous ego. He is a player’s coach, and those guys love playing for a guy like that. Yeah he brings in competition and makes players lives hard but they’re not stupid. They know he’s only making them better.

Too many people confuse McDaniels confidence and willingness to take risks as an ego or whatever they want to call it, but he’s just trying to win. This is a league that is competative as hell and you HAVE to take risks to have a shot at winning. He is doing that; and he has never come off to me as anything but a reasonable and sensible person on camera.

McDaniels owes nobody an appology for what he does if it is in the best interests of the team at that time. Shanahan never appologied for any of his moves and shouldn’t. It would be a sign of weakness and a chink in the armor…I appreciated Pat Bowlen for hiring Mike Shanahan to the head coach position when he did, but we have to face the facts, John Elway and the Broncos were headed in the direction they went one way or another and I am sure there were several heaad coaches at that time who could have come in lead them there.