As a Denver fan since 1977, I have lived and died with the Broncos for 33 years.  I supported the move to get rid of Shanahan (terrible GM), and have agreed with most of McDaniels moves.  However, the two drafts under McDaniels have been underwhelming at best.  The missed opportunities of the last two years are going to haunt our franchise for years to come.  In the 2009 Draft, trading a first round pick for Alphonso Smith (a 5 foot 7 corner who will never see the field) was a waste.  Instead of drafting Rey Malauga or a Defensive lineman....we took an unusable corner.   If Robert Ayers becomes a starting linebacker and if Knowshon Moreno becomes a dominant running back then McDaniels draft grade rises above a C.  Giving up picks to get Richard Quinn????  Are you kidding me?  Did we really need another blocking Tight End? 

Letting Cutler go....I agree any primadonna who says he has a stronger arm than Elway and pouts his way out of Denver has got to go.  As for Brandon Marshall, fabulous reciever...but beyond self absorbed and not worth 50 million dollars....will never have his head on straight.....don't let the door hit you on the way out.  Scheffler...I don't really understand....he was our only recieving tight end on a team with voids at reciever...but I will give McDaniels a break on that one.

The inexcusable move was not working out a deal to keep Defensive Coordinator of the Year Mike Nolan.  Nolan was a miracle worker and took us from the 29th ranked defense to the 7th ranked defense.  We should have paid any price to keep him...letting him go is going to haunt us.  

Which brings us to this years Draft.  Getting the reciever from Georgia Tech after trading down to get extra picks was brilliant.  Dallas can have this years marshall...Dez Bryant...the headache will be theirs.  Choosing Zane Beadles instead of Toby Gerhart or Golden Tate....crushing error.  The other lineman we drafted seem fine and Eric Decker seems like he will be good.  

And then there is the drafting of Tim Tebow.   Great Character...Amazing Intangibles..Questionable Mechanics....and a waste of a draft pick.  We gave up a second round, third round, fourth round pick to get a fourth string quarterback.  Franchise quarterbacks are not projects.  There is zero track record for a first round project quarterback becoming a franchise quarterback.   Kyle Orton was an above average quarterback who is respected by the team.  He outperformed that Cutler guy last year.  Of his 12 interceptions, 3 of them came in the last game when he was given no recievers and our defense took the afternoon off.  Brady Quinn was a great addition...far superior to Chris Simms.  No one knows what Quinn can do and with drafting of Tebow we never will.  Branstater will have to be a practice squad QB or hope for his release or trade. 

Instead of drafting the bigger running back we needed....Toby Gerhart...the playmaking reciever we need...Golden Tate or the middle linebacker we need Sean Lee.....we took an unneeded risk at QB.  Superbowl caliber teams can take a project at Quarterback....mediocre teams cannot.  Even if Tebow succeeds it means losing Orton and Quinn (neither wants to be a backup)....

As many on this site have said what happens when Orton throws his first pick and the crowd chants Tebows name.  Its unfair to Orton and Quinn.  Its also unfair to Bryan Dawkins and Champ Bailey, neither guy has time to wait for Tebow to develop. 

If McDaniels chose Tebow to get himself job security...then shame on him.  If he chose him out of some sense of ego or his man crush on the guy then its inexcusable.  He ignored major needs to draft Tebow and the team as well as its dedicated fans are the ones who are going to suffer. The last two drafts will go down as tremendous missed opportunities.  Kinda wish we would have chosen an established NFL Coach....and avoided the growing pains of McDaniels.  Maybe John Gruden will want the job in 2011 or 2012.  A diehard bronco fan can dream right?