Because of the current futility, it is interesting to look back and wonder what would have happened had McDaniels been willing to work with Jay Cutler.
Everything would have been different. John Elway would almost certainly have been fired by now (no championship and he would have begun his QB hunting fiasco even earlier). You see John actually liked a franchise QB in the 2012 draft, but with Peyton coming to town he didn't feel he could draft a 26 QB by the name of Brandon WEeden. Brandon Weeden was "more mature" and Elway really liked him.
But, if you just gave Peyton a 5 year deal it just makes no sense to draft a 26 year old rookie QB. He'd be nearly 30 by the time Peyton was ready to retire.
So, he got a very young QB named Brock Osweiler in the 2nd round. But, if Peyton hadn't come to town -- Elway would have drafted Brandon Weeden. The first three years of Elway's tenure would have been trying to justify letting Tim Tebow go for Brandon Weeden. That wouldn't have gone over well with the fan base.
Some of the Tebowites were still butt-hurt the Broncos signed Manning and got rid of their tin hero -- despite Manning being 100% better. But, Elway really didn't like Tebow as his QB.
I remember Elway's first year in training camp, watching Elway personally looking at Tebow's mechanics. Tebow was struggling and failing to master the footwork and timing of being a drop back NFL QB and there was Elway with a pained look on his face about 5 ft. away from Tebow taking it all in. He didn't look happy at what he was seeing, which was Tebow sailing passes all over the field, into the stands, etc. There was just no accuracy.
And I remember at the time thinking "no way Elway is thinking 'this is my QB of the future!' No way! Elway's going to find a way to get rid of him." And he did.