Broncos to Trade Cutler?

Nearly one week after new Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels went on ESPN and clearly said Jay Cutler will be in a Bronco uniform in 2009, the Broncos organization has announced they are actively seeking a trade for the young gunslinger.

At age 25, just seven years younger than McDaniels, Cutler has already accomplished big things in Denver.  Cutler was the 11th overall pick in the ’06 NFL draft, and has already made a Pro Bowl appearance (’08), thrown for over 9,000 yards and posted a career QB rating of 87.1 in his first three NFL seasons.

But, about two months after being named Mike Shanahan’s successor in Denver, the 32-year old Josh McDaniels made a huge mistake by attempting to make a statement to his players.  He allegedly attempted to complete a trade which would bring the now-Kansas City Chiefs' QB Matt Cassel to Denver, sending Cutler to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The trade fell through as McDaniels’ former QB (in New England) was shipped to Kansas City instead.

When Cutler found out about “the trade,” he was not a happy camper.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  Cutler received the wrong first impression of McDaniels and apparently wants out.  Tuesday it was said the Broncos have decided they will, in fact, trade him now.  They really have no choice after the happenings that have been going on in Denver during the month of March.  Why keep, and pay someone that much money if he doesn’t even want to play for you.

Cutler will be in a new uniform come 2009.

This is certainly not the kind of thing McDaniels bargained for when he agreed on that four-year, $8 million contract on January 11 of this year.  But, he’s obviously inexperienced at this sort of thing; he was a coach under New England’s Bill Belichick from 2001-2008, but has never been the head man.

The only thing left to talk about here is where will Cutler land?  I don’t think he will get a better situation to be in than Denver (before the trade saga, that is), unless he somehow ends up in Minnesota where he has a solid O-line, defensive unit and an all-pro half back running behind him in Adrian Peterson.  Other potential buyers include, but are not limited to New York (Jets), Detroit, Carolina (they are still trying to deal Julius Peppers and Denver is a good fit for him), Tampa Bay, Washington (just a rumor I heard), San Francisco, Seattle, Jacksonville and possibly even Chicago.  The Lions would be very smart to jump on this opportunity. Trading for Cutler (if they can afford it), would mean they can take the offensive tackle they need with the first overall pick, and then focus on defensive players the rest of the draft. But maybe that's just my opinion, though.

No matter where Cutler ends up for the 2009 season, I believe Cutler will make an immediate impact on his new team. This young man, if he matures quickly, can be the difference in a 6-10 team and an 11-win playoff team.

Jay100Soccer Kid

224 days ago

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When i first read that Cutler wanted out I pictured him in a Detroit uniform and then i pictured San Diego but thats never going to happen as much as I would like it to. ( I can't really get on the back of Pip Rivers.) This is a great article my imagination is on overrdrive.

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Mvicks21JV Squad

224 days ago

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I really don't understand what the Broncos are thinking. They bring in 32yo to be thier head coach..okay that's fine. But did they give him total contol of football operations too? I keep hearing that McDaniels tried to trade Cutler. Wasn't there anyone else in the organization that was involved with this huge decision? That is just to much power for a rookie NFL coach to have...no matter how old he is.

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False ProphetAll-Star

223 days ago

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The idea was that mcdaniels wanted cassel, whom he's worked with since cassel was drafted, to be his qb. Cutler was on the trading block because he expected to have to give up cutler (either in the trade itself or for cap reasons). This is very normal. Coaches like to bring in a qb that they already know well and that already knows their system. Cutler has become hostile and unrespinsive when approached by either the owner or mcdaniels, and despite attempts at reconciliation by both, cutler is still angry and wants out of denver. There is no reason to keep him around if cutler is going to not cooperate with mcdaniels. Now granted, mcdaniels probably should have been more up front with cutler about his intent, but cutler still has way overreacted to this whole situation. Mcdaniels didn't really do anything wrong here.

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Steel TownDraft Pick

223 days ago

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Cutler is being a brat to be sure, but if I was the Bronco's owner I would fire McDaniels and have a little talk with my immature QB. Cutler has shown to be a good QB at the pro level whereas Cassel "knew the system". That's not enough to lose Cutler in my mind. McDaniels flubbed this whole thing and now the Brocos are out a fanchise QB.

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Steel TownDraft Pick

223 days ago

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And, I agree with MVicks here. Perhaps a GM should have stopped all of this before it started.

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False ProphetAll-Star

223 days ago

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McDaniels didn't screw up though. You can bet your money's worth that the Broncos owners knew about McDaniels wanting to trade for cassel and signed off on it.

Plus, they did try to have a talk with Cutler. It didn't work. Cutler refused to return either the owner's or McDaniel's calls [1]

Cassel had a pro bowl caliber season, and was not only familiar with McDaniels system, but McDaniels has been Cassel's coach his entire pro career (QB coach and then OC).

Cutler is a complete brat, and this should not cost Mcdaniels his job. That would be absurd. Coaches are always looking for ways to improve their team, and Mcdaniels felt that if they could bring in Cassel, they could succeed. So Mcdaniels called up his pals in New England and asked what it would take to get Cassel, and that's all that happened. If I'm McDaniels, and Cutler throws a fit over me contemplating trading him for someone who I think has a lot of potential, whom I'm familiar with, who is coming off an amazing season, and who is potentially on the trading blocks, I say good riddance. That's not just a relatioship issue, that's a confidence issue, and if there's one guy on the entire field who you can't risk having a very low self-esteem, it's your qb. Cutler obviously has confidence issues and has issues with not being pampered, and if I'm trying to build a team, that's not hte type of player I want.

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Taytay 24All-American

223 days ago

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If that's what you really think FP, then I'd love to have you across the table from my GM when trade talks are happening. Spin it how you want, but McDaniels made a typical rookie head coach mistake in thinking that he can make unilateral decisions without a heads up to his most important player. The Broncos will be worse off without Cutler--they need him more than he needs them.

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False ProphetAll-Star

223 days ago

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why is there this assumption that this was a unilateral move that was done without consulting the GM/owner? Taytay, if I'm a coach, I don't wan5

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False ProphetAll-Star

223 days ago

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sorry, ...I don't want to have to worry about my QB freaking out any time I attack his confidence. What if next time I tell him that he's making poor reads he throws a fit? It's not just this one incident, it's what this one incident can tell us about jay cutler.

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Taytay 24All-American

223 days ago

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If you're "attacking his confidence", you've screwed up already. I think Cutler has shown he can take professional criticism, but that's not what this is about. He may or may not have consulted the GM or owner, but what he needed to do was give Cutler a simple heads up and be honest. Can you really blame Cutler for having lost faith in McDaniels? Besides all that, I have serious questions about McDaniels if he was considering swapping Cutler for Cassel in the first place.

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False ProphetAll-Star

222 days ago

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I mean coaches should be criticizing their players if they screw up. If Cutler's going to be a baby, I say good riddance. I think you're placing waaayy too much confidence in Cutler. He's had 2 good seasons, and the best they've finished since he became the starter is 8-8. Cassel had a higher completion percentage last season than Cutler, and had a better TD-INT Ratio. I'm not saying that Cassel is unquestionably better than Cutler, just that it's really not as crazy as you're making it seem.

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Taytay 24All-American

222 days ago

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I think I made a clear distinction in my last comment between criticizing play and making moves behind a player's back--there's a difference. As for Denver's record, that is more the fault of their defense than QB play. You say he's only had two good seasons? I say he's only played three--his learning curve was much shorter than most rookie QBs.

As for placing "waaayy too much confidence in Cutler"--we all know where your allegiances lie, and I think you may be overvaluing Cassel. After all, his body of work is even smaller than Cutler's, and as Rawb has pointed out before, Cassel went 11-5 and missed the playoffs with the same team that Brady took to the brink of 19-0.

All you have to do is look at the trade packages each garnered to tell you who the league values more. As I originally said, I wish you were sitting across from my GM when trade talks are happening--that might be one that Jerry Jones could win.

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