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Here's a surprise, already a follow-up to this morning's Fantasy Notebook and Friday's Podcast. ... According to both the Denver Post and CBS4 Sports in Denver, Jay Cutler met face-to-face with head coach Josh McDaniels on Saturday morning.

But the outcome was not good. We are told that much like last Monday's conference call between Cutler and the Broncos brass, Saturday's discussion did not go well. Cutler and the Broncos remain at odds.

In fact, Post staffer Mike Klis, citing a source close to Cutler, reports the quarterback and McDaniels exchanged words during Saturday's meeting.

Attending the meeting were Cutler, his agent James "Bus" Cook (whose name appears on a regular basis in Klis' work [leading one to presume he might just be that source "close to Cutler"]), McDaniels and Broncos general manager Brian Xanders.

No ultimatums were given, according to the Broncos, but the meeting ended without a reconciliation.

"There was a brief meeting Saturday morning and we agreed to regroup and continue to have conversations," a Broncos spokesman told Klis this morning.

The breakdown came just as it appeared Cutler and McDaniels were moving toward mending their relationship. Cutler returned to Denver late last week from Nashville, where he has spent most of his offseason.

With McDaniels holding his first team meeting at 8 a.m. Monday, Cutler not only had planned to attend but had agreed to a pre-emptive meeting with his new coach and general manager.

Cutler apparently didn't like what he heard and it is now doubtful he will attend the team meeting tomorrow, according to Klis' source.

As noted in this morning's Notebook, the quarterback was scheduled to attend a "roast" for long-time Broncos trainer Steve Antonopulos on Saturday night.

But as guests began to arrive, it was learned Cutler would not be coming.

A Broncos spokesperson told media members who were gathered at the event that Cutler decided not to attend because he did not want the attention on him to overshadow the evening's festivities. Sources told CBS4 Sports, however, that Cutler made his decision not to attend the event after the meeting with the Broncos went sour.

So. ... Is anybody really surprised to see the intensity ratchet up on this one?

In case you haven't been paying attention, Cutler has been unhappy since learning his name came up in a trade proposal that would have sent him to Tampa Bay in a three-team swap that would have brought Matt Cassel, McDaniels' former quarterback in New England, to Denver.

Cutler has said he is not bothered by the trade proposal itself, but rather how Broncos officials have misled him.

McDaniels has said the Broncos merely listened to offers submitted from other teams, as they do for all players.

Now we await the next chapter in this soap opera -- tomorrow morning's team meeting.

As much as I hope Cutler will surprise me (and perhaps the Broncos) by showing up prepared to work like his teammates, I suspect that emotion, hurt feelings a lack of maturity (on Cutler's part) and a lack of experience (on McDaniels' part) will perpetuate this story.