Jason Cole

Quarterback Jake Plummer’s reward for leading Denver to the AFC Championship Game and getting to the Pro Bowl in his third year as the Broncos starter was seeing his team draft his replacement.

Interesting, considering that Plummer is all of 31.

Of all the intriguing moves in the draft, Denver coach Mike Shanahan’s decision to trade up from No. 15 to No. 11 to get Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler ranks as the top move in terms of immediate controversy and impact on the 2006 season.

Or as a friend of Plummer’s said Saturday after seeing the Cutler pick, “It’s going to be interesting to see how Jake handles that.”

The media in Denver is already clawing for a shot to interview Plummer and gauge his reaction. Fortunately, Plummer wasn’t available right away. Snap decisions and reactions aren’t Plummer’s strong suit, such as the time he threw a ball left-handed in a game and had it intercepted (Plummer is right-handed). Or the time he came to the sideline after a bad play, was booed by the fans and then was caught on camera flipping off the fans.

Then again, maybe that’s the point.

In three years with Denver, Plummer has proved just good enough to run Shanahan’s offense effectively and look good doing it. He led the Broncos to a 13-3 record in the regular season and threw only seven interceptions last season, including only four over the final 14 games.

But in the critical moments, such as the playoffs, Plummer regressed.

The aforementioned AFC Championship Game is the prime example. Against Pittsburgh, Plummer threw two interceptions, lost two fumbles and was sacked three times as the Broncos got drilled at home.

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Overall, Plummer has turned mediocre come playoff time. In five postseason games with Denver, Plummer has five touchdowns passes, six interceptions and has been sacked 10 times.

Fair or not, that’s not good enough in football-crazed Denver.

Thus, Shanahan put the screws to Plummer on Saturday by taking Cutler, the strong-armed kid with a touch of Brett Favre to his game. In short, Plummer better perform under pressure.

When asked about a competition for the starting job, Shanahan didn’t cut Plummer a lot of slack.

Neil Brake / AP Broncos fans may start a Jay Cutler cult following.

“All you like to do is have competition,” Shanahan said. “You try to create competition. We’ve been very fortunate the last couple of years. Obviously Jake (Plummer) is in his 10th year and took us to the AFC Championship Game and played quite well on a Pro Bowl level. (Plummer is) an athlete, he’s playing at a very high level and won a lot of games, and hopefully we’ll continue to do that with Jake at the helm.”

Hopefully? Hmmm, kind of makes you wonder. That is, until Shanahan practically put Plummer on notice.

“There is a lot of competition, and everyone is playing for a job. Jake had the same situation in Arizona. That’s just the nature of the job. There’s always going to be competition. There’s always going to be great players. If you back away from competition, you shouldn’t be the guy anyhow. That’s just the nature of the National Football League,” the coach said.