FanHouse Pat Bowlen

When Broncos owner Pat Bowlen hired Josh McDaniels, expectations for the organization were about as high as they have been in recent years. It only took a few months for McDaniels to burn through a season's worth of goodwill, and between the Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall soap operas, fans and media were preparing for the worst when Week 1 rolled around.

Yet here we are, five weeks and five wins later. The Broncos are one of the best teams in the league and McDaniels, who looked like an overmatched, overwhelmed junior high schooler earlier this summer, suddenly is the boy genius everybody figured on when he arrived in Denver after spending most of this decade working for Bill Belichick.

There appears to be some communication problems coming out of Denver.

First, owner Pat Bowlen tells wide receiver Brandon Marshall that he will trade him, according to Marshall's agent, Kennard McGurire. Now, Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said he expects to see Marshall in training camp, according to the Denver Post.

What a mess.

As we passed along yesterday, Brandon Marshall has requested that the Denver Broncos trade him. According to reports from the Denver area Tuesday, that request will be granted by Broncos' owner Pat Bowlen.

"Yes there was a meeting between Brandon, and Mr. Bowlen. There was a request for a trade. Mr. Bowlen has said that ownership will do everything in it's power to accommodate his wishes," said Marshall's agent Kennard McGuire to Fox31 Sports' Josina Anderson Tuesday morning.

Later in the day, McGuire told FanHouse's Calvin Watkins that the two sides will progress with trade talks, despite Broncos coach Josh McDaniels' claim that he expects Marshall to attend the team's training camp.

The word from the front office in Denver (outside of McDaniels) wasn't much, as they merely offered a "no comment." Teaming the report with the information we have in front of us -- in addition to the way the Jay Cutler fiasco went down -- it would appear Marshall will be wearing a different uniform come Week 1 of the season.

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There's a feeling of déjà vu in the mile-high air around Denver on Monday, as Brandon Marshall's displeasure with the Denver Broncos has moved into the trade-demand stage.

A source close to the situation told FanHouse's Calvin Watkins that Marshall is questioning the team's direction after the Cutler trade, and that concern led Marshall to meet with owner Pat Bowlen.

During a radio interview with 850 KOA in Denver, Adam Schefter of the NFL Network (soon of ESPN) said that Marshall's trade request came after the wide receiver decided not to report to the opening of the Broncos' mandatory minicamp. Marshall told Bowlen, "I think I'd like to be traded," and Schefter said Marshall was unlikely to change his mind, despite Bowlen's request that he take some time to consider options.

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Two weeks ago, Brandon Marshall said he was staying away from Denver Broncos workouts because he wanted to rehab his surgically repaired hip at home in Florida. That his decision was made just after making a request for a raise was just a coincidence, or so he said.

That claim became a lot harder to believe on Friday when Marshall failed to appear for the start of the Broncos' mandatory minicamp. CBS4 in Denver is reporting that Marshall is in the city and will meet with Broncos owner Pat Bowlen on Friday afternoon.

It's been more than four months since Pat Bowlen fired close friend Mike Shanahan. The subsequent search to replace the man who gave Denver 14 years and two Super Bowls was, at times, bumpy. It got bumpier after Bowlen settled on 32-year-old Josh McDaniels.

A fresh-faced Bill Belichick protégé, McDaniels had coordinated up the most explosive offense in NFL history: the 2007 New England Patriots. As often happens when coaches relocate, McDaniels wanted to bring in his "his" players to run "his" system. Hours into free agency, the Broncos inked former Pats wideout Jabar Gaffney. And then, after Denver tried to acquire Matt Cassel, incumbent Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler demanded a trade, things got messy, and, ultimately, the Broncos ended up with a couple first-round picks, Kyle Orton and a lot of questions.

At this time last week, the Raiders made a decision to draft Maryland wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh pick of the NFL draft.

Every draft expert including Mel Kiper, Bozo the Clown, Ralph from Brooklyn, Steve from Fort Lauderdale and Carl from Chicago thought it was dumb. There's this belief that Al Davis, the man who runs the Raiders, shouldn't be doing this anymore. Some call Davis "Crazy Al" for all the bad decisions he's made.

If you look across the league there are owners and general managers making poor decisions all the time.

Detroit, Minnesota, Tampa Bay and the Jets all took cracks at prying Jay Cutler away from the Broncos, but in the end, Denver may have been left with a choice between Chicago and Washington, according to the Denver Post's Mike Klis.

"Washington, I know, was working hard on this," Klis said when I caught up with him on the phone late Thursday night. "Basically, this deal got done because Josh McDaniels liked Kyle Orton better than Jason Campbell, that's what this tells me."

Klis also discussed whether Denver fans should be happy with this deal or not, as well as what this means for the Broncos' 2009 season and pending draft plans. The highlights are after the jump.

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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Jay Cutler's dreams are finally coming true: the Broncos have agreed to trade him. Of course, if he weren't so sensitive -- or if new head coach Josh McDaniels had better controlled the flow of information -- it never would've come to this.