Comments on Cutlergate

By now you are all inundated with Cutlergate and the fallout. I think Denver got the best of the deal and here's why.

1. Ownership is firmly in control. In the last few years of the Shannahan era, it was unclear whether Shanny or Pat Bolen was really running the show. Shanny earned Bolen two trophies and got John Elway over the hump. Shanny never produced after those trophies and the team got very sloppy and frankly suffered some very bad luck (Darrent Williams and Damien Nash, for example) and was spiralling out of control. Shanny had too much control, and when Bolen fired him, Bolen showed that he held the cards in the end.
2. McDaniels is secure (for now). One thing that probably convinced Bolen in his interview was that the Patriots experience showed him that the organization is the key to success and no one is bigger than the organization. This was the first test of McDaniels and it came before the pads ever went on. Bolen backed his play and McDaniels is the man. No one is bigger than the organization. One thing I don't like about McDaniels is that he cut long time Denver long snapper Mike Leach and replace him with New England LS Lonnie Paxton. Players can understand wanting to bring in "your guy" at a particularly critical position such as QB or FS, but long snapper is a bit too much. Don't overreach before you've done anything, Coach McDaniels.
3. Denver can do a lot with the draft picks Chicago gave them. Two #1s this year (their own and Chicago's) can be packaged and move them to the top ten where they can take Mark Sanchez. They have two #1s next year. If they stay put, they can get two impact players this year and have five of the top 100 picks in the draft. They have to draft well, but the opportunity to significantly improve their team and not just for a quick fix is there.