Josh McDaniels Has No Regrets

Josh McDaniels held a press conference on Friday afternoon, and expressed no regrets about the way things went down with Jay Cutler. While he said he thought it could have worked out, it was his opinion that Cutler and agent Bus Cook didn't want to make the same commitment to moving forward. Once that became clear, the goal was to trade Cutler and not look back.

McDaniels didn't go out of his way to slam Cutler while answering questions about how the relationship soured. He saved his biggest slam for a question about a downgrade in talent from Cutler to Kyle Orton.

"[Cutler is a] very talented player, but you're distinguished by making the playoffs and winning games."

Cutler, of course, never made the playoffs with the Broncos and the team has gone 17-22 in games that he's started. Orton hasn't started a playoff game either, but the Bears were 21-12 in his starts between 2005 and 2008.

The difference in arm strength or athleticism doesn't seem to matter much to Denver's rookie coach. Whoever winds up starting -- and the coach said they'd consider drafting a quarterback -- will need to "do what we want him to do," McDaniels said. That criteria would have been hard for Cutler to fulfill, especially after things got off to such an ugly start with McDaniels.

Overall, McDaniels didn't give off the impression that he was going to miss Cutler one bit. In fact, he seemed like a guy who enjoyed having a blank slate to work with. That's a lot of confidence for someone who has been on the job for less than three months, but probably the right amount for a successful NFL head coach.