For the second straight offseason, the Broncos have made a big trade involving a quarterback. The team’s acquisition of Brady Quinn certainly isn’t as big as the Jay Cutler deal a year ago, but any time a big-name quarterback is involved, it’s news.

As far as the trade itself, the Broncos were in a low-risk, high-reward situation. It was clear that Peyton Hillis was not going to factor in as one of the top two running backs for the Broncos. Head coach Josh McDaniels said on more than one occasion last year that he does not believe in getting three running backs regular reps because he believes that adversely affects the ability for any of these running backs to get into a rhythm.

Even though many fans have clamored for Hillis to get more playing time, it didn’t happen and never was going to happen (barring injury or some unforeseen situation) with Josh McDaniels as the Broncos’ head coach. Whether or not one agrees or disagrees with that makes for a good sports talk show topic or newspaper column, but it doesn’t change the fact that McDaniels did not see Hillis as one of the top couple of running backs. Thus, Hillis was not going to get meaningful playing time on a regular basis.