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Was Peyton Hillis trying to dip his pen in the company ink?
Could that really be why McDaniels’ has seemingly hated Hillis since the two were both in Denver together? Its that why the brash young head coach was so eager to jettison such a talented running back from his team without ever letting him see the field?
That’s the word on the street according to Mark Schlereth and Alfred Williams, who claimed on 104.3 the Fan earlier this week that it has long been common knowledge around the Broncos organization. Apparently, the story goes that Hillis – who is a single bachelor about town – made the moves on McDaniels wife, Laura, shortly after they got to Denver. It’s unclear whether or not Peyton actually knew who he was hitting on, but regardless, McDaniels supposedly got wind of it, and that was it for Hillis.
Let’s face it, McDaniels hasn’t exactly won over a lot of new fans this season, in leading the Broncos to a 3-8 record and continuing to make some seriously questionable decisions since his arrival on the scene in Denver. And one of the strangest scenarios of his short tenure has revolved around Hillis, who led the Broncos in rushing with 353 yards in 6 starts during his rookie year in 2008. But he never really got a chance to show his stuff once McDaniels took over for Mike Shanahan the following year. Denver drafted Knowshon Moreno to be the feature back, and Hillis seemed to be planted firmly in McDaniels’ doghouse, carrying the ball only 13 times in 2009. McDaniels then cut ties entirely with Hillis, trading him to the Cleveland Browns for Brady Quinn and a draft pick.
Now that he’s finally gotten his chance, we’ve all watched in awe as Hillis has exploded onto the NFL this year. The former Arkansas FB has racked up over 1300 yards and 13 touchdowns combined in just 10 starts with the Browns. He’s turned into a nearly unstoppable force, causing Broncos’ fans everywhere to rightly wonder what exactly happened that caused McDaniels to dislike Hillis so much. I mean, there had to be something that blinded McDaniels to the guy’s obvious talents and nearly give Hillis away to Cleveland, right?
Unfortunately, I don’t think this is the explanation that Broncos fans were hoping for. If true, this makes McDaniels look even more petty and childish (if that’s even possible) than he did after the Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall debacles. Let’s pretend – for the sake of argument – that Hillis was chatting up his wife at some Broncos function. As the head coach, you need to be able to separate the personal from the professional … something McDaniels clearly has a problem with. And as is the case with both of those players, the Broncos could certainly use a guy like Hillis toting the rock right now.
