FanHouse Brian Xanders

Pity poor Kyle Orton. He'd made a nice life for himself with the Bears. He cavorted with ladies and got soused, enjoying the fruits of being an NFL quarterback. Thanks to Rex Grossman, he was insulated from fan hatred even if he played poorly. Then came the Jay Cutler trade, which forced him from his comfy little nook and sent him to the Rocky Mountains, where the fans aren't treating him quite so nicely.

At a Thursday night scrimmage at Invesco Field, Orton heard jeers from the crowd of 12,000-plus after he threw a pair of interceptions and several other incompletions. Other Broncos who performed poorly also caught the angry end of the stick, and the scrimmage may have served as a preview of more than just the team's offense and defense.

Just after the first round ended, FanHouse's Will Brinson worked up a list of the five biggest mistakes of the first 32 picks. Number two with a bullet was the Broncos' decision to choose Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno with the 12th overall pick. Moreno is talented, but he went too early and he failed to address the biggest needs on the Bronco team.

So it was a rough start for Brian Xanders and Josh McDaniels, the new G.M. and coach of the Broncos. Unfortunately, the Broncos were just getting warmed up. The first day of the first McDaniels/Xanders draft was full of questionable moves, and could wind up making 2010's draft another day to forget.

The hardest thing to figure out about the Broncos' decision to trade Jay Cutler was determining fair value for a soon-to-be 26-year-old quarterback who has established himself as a starter in the NFL. Those deals don't happen often enough to provide a gauge for what's a good return. Making matters more difficult was the public nature of the trade talks, which seemed to back the Broncos into a corner.

Given all of that context, Broncos GM Brian Xanders did very well for himself on Thursday.

I don't know about you, but when one of my bosses urgently needs me, he either calls or yanks me by the earlobe into his office. We're still waiting for Pat Bowlen to have such contact with Jay Cutler, which shocks me. For a quarter-century, Bowlen has been among the dynamic owners in American sports, a primary reason why the Denver Broncos have been an elite NFL franchise.

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