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Before
Jay Cutler and Josh McDaniels entered their swamp of contentious confusion, the groundwork for a muddled fallout between the quarterback and the
Denver Broncos had roots in the days following team owner Pat Bowlen's Dec. 30 firing of coach Mike Shanahan.
Bus Cook, Cutler's agent, said on Wednesday morning: "Jay was disappointed in the firing of Mike Shanahan and met with the owner. The owner assured him everything would be fine. The owner said he had the second-best offense in football and would leave the offensive staff intact. Jay was good with that. Then he hires an offensive coach who gets rid of the staff."
Bowlen said on Wednesday afternoon: "I really have had no discussion with Jay or the agent. Mike was fired right after the season. At that point, there was no need to have a discussion with Jay. Now, actually, to be fair, I don't think I had that discussion. I don't recall it. I know I'm getting up there in age, and I am not sure of that discussion."
Little wonder Cutler and the Broncos are in total bewilderment.
This thing began unraveling quicker than most knew.
It is clear that Cutler bought into the coaching of Shanahan, and even more so, that of his former offensive coordinator, Jeremy Bates, who is now at USC. It appears Cutler believed keeping Bates aboard was the best of a rocky situation.
But on Jan. 12, Bowlen, as is his absolute right, hired former
New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. McDaniels, as his absolute right, wanted to run his own offense with his own hand-picked offensive assistants.
Cutler's attitude at that point was, well, you might as well get rid of me, too.
"But I never requested a trade for Jay then," Cook said. "That is simply not true.
"Jay met with the coach early on and then told me everything was going to be OK. He said, 'We are going to work this out; we are on the same wavelength.' Everything was fine until Saturday two weeks ago. Jay called me and asked, 'Are they trying to trade me?' I told him, 'No, why would they try to do that?'"
That was when the story broke that the Broncos had discussions about trading Cutler in a deal that would bring then-New England quarterback and McDaniels mentee
Matt Cassel to Denver. Cassel wound up being traded to the
Kansas City Chiefs, but Cutler has said he lost trust in McDainiels because of the way the entire episode was handled.
"We told them the evening of our last meeting that Jay wanted to be a Bronco even before the meeting," Cook said. "Jay told them he understood about the coach's relationship with Matt Cassel. At no time was the coach critical of Jay. In fact, he told Jay soon after he got to Denver that Jay was the reason he came to Denver. So, why was he trying to trade him? All the guy had to do was say I dropped the ball, I have a special bond with Cassel, you are my guy. Jay never heard that. What he heard in the meeting was it could happen again."
An absolute mess here all around.
Bowlen realizes it. He was asked if he thought Cutler would remain a Bronco.
"To tell you the truth, I have no answer to that question," Bowlen said. "I would like to keep him here, obviously. But if you are going to be an unhappy camper, there is no real reason to be here."
Bowlen was asked if he has reservations about McDaniels, his new coach, or the way he handled this matter.
"Obviously, I am not going to criticize the head coach," Bowlen said. "I think he was trying to be a head coach. As I see it, Jay got upset about things and his feelings were hurt, and here we are. I am not going to weigh in on who is to blame here. This whole incident has been written about and talked about, and I am moving on, personally. We're getting ready for the draft and ready to play next season."