Addition By Subtraction Or The Sinking Of A Franchise?

The Denver Broncos have had some trouble in the past. A defensive back was shot to death on New Year's Eve, Travis Henry attempted to impregnate every woman in America, the team became obsessed with Cleveland Browns rejects, and there has been a different running back leading the team in rushing every year.

But there has never been an off-season so gravid with controversy and change than this one. The inexplicable off-season continues for the Denver Broncos as star wide receiver Brandon Marshall wants to follow Jay Cutler out of town. Remember back when the firing of Mike Shanahan was thought to be the biggest controversy for the Broncos this year?

This nonsense has to bother Broncos owner Pat Bowlen who has consistently been one of the NFL's most solid owners. He doesn't treat his team like it's simply a part of his investment portfolio (see the current San Francisco 49ers) nor does he attempt to use his team to stroke his ego (look no further than Oakland or Dallas). Yet Bowlen is the one who fired Shanahan and hired new head coach Josh McDaniels, so I guess ye reap what ye sow.

Now about head coach McDaniels. This off-season is proving one of two things: he is a man wise beyond his years, or he is too inexperienced to hold down an NFL head coaching position and the Broncos are suffering for it. I'll expand on both:

Theory I- Josh McDaniels is wise and he's thinking into the future:
No one is arguing the talents of Cutler and Marshall, they have been a top QB/WR tandem in all of football the past couple of years.

But the goal is a Lombardi Trophy, not a passing title. And teams generally don't win Super Bowls with a quarterback who cries any time someone dares consider someone else might be better than him. McDaniels may have met Cutler and realized there was no way he had the mindset to lead a team through the grinder of the NFL playoffs (after all, McDaniels had spent time with Tom Brady in New England.)

So McDaniels makes a play for Matt Cassell and loses out to K.C. Cutler throws a hissy fit and McDaniels refuses to give in to the quarterback's whining because he knows that's not going to help the team win. Everything escalates and before you know it, Cutler is out of town. McDaniels didn't expect Cutler to be gone, but he wasn't going to let Cutler act like a diva.

Meanwhile, the Broncos got a quarterback who is less talented in Kyle Orton, but one who has spent his NFL life battling for his position thereby making him mentally tough. Plus, the Broncos got several extra draft picks to help build the team around Orton.

Brandon Marshall should probably concentrate more on staying off the police short list before he starts demanding trades. The receiver is super talented, yet he possesses that crazy gene that several wideouts have.

If Marshall goes, the Broncos will get even more draft picks which the team can use to shore up various other positions. Within three years the Broncos will change from a team that has to win track meet type games because it has a high octane passing offense, but nothing else to a well-balanced machine that has a ball control offense and a precision passing game accompanied by a young talented defense. Just like McDaniels wanted.

or

Theory II- McDaniels is in over his head and his shenanigans will cost the Broncos:
McDaniels reminds me a bit too much of Lane Kiffin. Both are young, aggressive coaches who are smart about the X's and O's in football, but have zero ability to manage people.

In his zeal to prove he belongs as a head coach in the NFL, McDaniels may be rubbing multiple Broncos the wrong way. Here is this little pup who is actually younger than several of the players and he's tossing teammates around like he's playing John Madden Football on his Playstation.

NFL coaches have a room full of egos to manage and the smart ones understand the effects brash moves will have on a team and not just on the roster. McDaniels may have seen Bill Bellichick drop players he didn't like without blinking, but Bellichick spent a decade as one of the best defensive coordinators in football. He had some clout. McDaniels does not and he needs to understand that he has to prove himself to his team as well as vice versa.

I give McDaniels credit for making some big moves during his early stay in Denver. I just hope he has properly thought these moves through before he destroys his NFL career before it begins.

I Salute Thou And Thy Balls

Wow, what a good decision that was to not post about the Jay Cutler situation yesterday...

Now that the longueur between Cutler and the Broncos is officially over he's headed to Chicago, every sportswriter and blogger needs to weigh in on the trade.

Who got the better of it?

Is Cutler mature enough to lead a team?

Did the Broncos just let their future leave?

Did the Bears just become contenders?

How does John Elway feel about this? Okay, that one is stupid, but he did decide to weigh in on the whole Cutler situation. And when Elway speaks, Denver listens.

Everyone is re-hashing this trade and for good reason. It's one the biggest trades in NFL history and THE biggest trade involving a QB.

The only thing close to it is Steve Young to the 49ers and by the time he was traded, Young was considered a possible bust. Young got to sit and learn for four years before finally turning into a Hall of Famer.

Yes, Brett Favre to Green Bay was a big trade too, but go back to 1991. Did anyone care one bit about Favre being traded? He didn't even start in Atlanta. This is only a big trade in hindsight because of Favre's success.

Every other major QB trade has to do with an aging veteran being shipped to a team who tries one last gasp run at a Super Bowl title before they have to rebuild (See Joe Montana, Brett Favre to Jets, Warren Moon, etc. etc.)

But not this one. This is the trading of a young, established, Pro-Bowl quarterback that was supposed to lead the Broncos to glory. Now he's in Chicago and three high draft choices are in Denver along with the doughy and bearded Kyle Orton.

It will drastically change the future of both franchises. We have no idea if it will be for better or for worse, but the future has changed.

And I say WELL DONE to both sides for pulling off such a huge trade.

Sure, the Broncos have a lot of questions to answer now that they let the face of the franchise leave in his prime, but did anyone give the Broncos a real chance next year? Did anyone give the Bears a chance?

No!

The Broncos were going to be a good offensive team that could win games if the defense held opponents under three touchdowns. This was a big if.

The Bears were a solid team with a running game and decent defense, but zero passing game.

Now both teams will be different. Maybe not better, but different. And I'm interested.

Give me the Bears and Broncos early in the season because I want to see what happens. Chicago has gone from boring and predictable into uncharted territory. They have a quarterback!

The Broncos have just turned into draft darlings because everyone wants to see what they're going to do with the team now that they have extra draft picks and are down a Pro-Bowl leader.

So before we argue over who won this trade and which general manager will go down in infamy, let us sit back and take this event in as an NFL fan. In a league where most franchise heads are ultra-conservative and afraid that any sort of major move will backfire on them, we got to witness a league changing trade.

Enjoy it now. These trades don't come around very often. And the NFL is better off for it.

Long live the big trade!

Mile High 80122

Wow, Dallas owner Jerry Jones must be pissed. Despite his desperate attempts to make the Cowboys the running soap opera of every NFL off-season, it seems that his team is getting some big time competition from mountain country.

Maybe new Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels loves him some drama, or maybe doing things the Patriot way means shaking up an organization and pissing off as many players who aren't consider 'your' players as possible.

The Broncos looked to be free-agency winners when the team lured Brian Dawkins away from the Philadelphia Eagles over the weekend. Dawkins won't be in the NFL much longer, but he's a team leader and could teach the young Broncos defenders how to behave in the NFL. Judging by the reaction in Philadelphia, the Broncos got a real bargain.

And then the Bronco wagon split down the middle and all of the wheels came shooting off.

I don't know if McDaniels hasn't liked the film he's seen on Jay Cutler, really thinks Matt Cassel is destined for greatness, or if he's just an idiot. I do know that it's probably not a good idea to inquire about trading your young franchise quarterback the first chance you get unless you actually go through with the trade. Now that Cassel is with the division rival Chiefs, this storyline can be relived over and over and over again. Yeah!

At the very least, Cutler isn't going to feel completely secure in Denver for a while. If Cutler's initial comments are any indication, this thing is going to fester and cause some locker room problems. Culter isn't being very sanguine about his relationship with the new look Broncos.

But hey, it's okay, they signed Brian Dawkins to help smooth the locker room over!

Getting your quarterback back on board is enough to fill in the off-season to do list, but now there's another pressing need: get a lobotomy for your top receiver.

To say Brandon Marshall uses poor judgment is like saying Octo-mom likes kids. He's an idiot of the highest order that you only find in the ranks of wide receivers and defensive backs. Now he's in trouble again.
The good news: the recent case against him for disorderly conduct has been dismissed by the courts.
The bad news: the NFL doesn't need a conviction in court to dole out punishment of it's own.

(ATTENTION NFL COACHES and OWNERS: Atlanta night clubs are bad places for NFL players to hang out in. Bad things tend to happen here.)

So the Broncos now go into the 2009 draft with a franchise quarterback who was already unhappy with a coaching change and is now more than likely unsure if he wants to be a Bronco anymore, plus a top receiver who has police records in three states that includes multiple domestic disturbances, disorderly conduct, and a random arm injury that Marshall swears was just from roughhousing (because we've all put our fist through an entertainment center when we were messing around.)

Can Brian Dawkins play offense too?