The no-stat All-Star MLB team: While We’re Waiting
February 22, 2017Larry Sanders to work out for the Cavs
February 22, 2017Reports are circulating that the Chicago Bears are desperately attempting to trade quarterback Jay Cutler rather than waiving him next month. The Bears are ready to move on from the often-troublesome signal-caller. The current cries from all corners of the internet are from fans and writers exclaiming hope. Hope that their team’s roster is not the next one upon which Cutler lands on. I find these cries to be short-sighted and emotionally-charged rather than logical.
Cutler is an enigmatic quarterback that will lose his team games with sloppy play and win games with his fantastic toolset. He has less upside than Tyrod Taylor, but he is a stop-gap in terms of finding someone to man the helm. Cutler is someone who can potentially help the rest of the roster develop over the next three-to-four seasons.
Aptitude & value
Cutler’s whiny attitude has led him to be decried in the national press more than his statistics say is fair. He is not a quarterback such as Drew Brees or Tom Brady who can lift up those around him to new heights, but he is one who can help make the talent on the roster thrive. A normal season for Cutler has been above a 60% passer with a QBrating just below 90 and a QBR around 60. The double-digit AV (approximate value from pro-football-reference) has only been achieved in a season by 2007 Derek Anderson since the Browns came back in 1999. Furthermore, Cutler has improved with age as his 2013-2015 seasons were the most efficient passing of his career.
There should be no doubt that Cutler has been better than anyone currently residing on the Browns roster.
Jay Cutler statistics courtesy of pro-football-reference.com
Contract
Cutler is in a strange place in his contract. Only two million dollars remain on the Bears dead cap from his signing bonus, and he has no more guaranteed salary. Normally, a player might seek a new deal with some guarantees to ensure more leverage of remaining on a roster, but Cutler is unlikely to achieve the dollar amounts owed through that method. He might be best served keeping his current contract and betting on himself to remain on the roster.
He technically has roster bonuses and base salary over the next four seasons, but the bonuses are broken apart for each week of the regular season (treated the same as his base salary). It is more instructive to note that Cutler is owed $15 million, $16 million, $20 million, and $21.7 million over the next four years. In the crazy world of the NFL, those numbers make him a below average paid quarterback for at least the next two seasons. If at any time a team acquiring Cutler wishes to cut bait, the remainder of his contract would be torn up with no money owed to him. There is value in both of those items.
Risk assessment
There are major risks with Cutler that might prove he is not someone worth obtaining. He suffered both a thumb injury and a torn shoulder labrum during the 2016 season. The extent of his labrum injury and his current health status are unknown. Any team even thinking of discussing a trade for Cutler (or signing him if he is waived) would have to demand a thorough look through his medical reports and put him through an extensive medical examination.
The other risk is one of motivation. Cutler would have to embrace the role of mentor to a young team. He would have to help Terrelle Pryor and Corey Coleman learn their roles at wide receiver, while leading the quarterback room with Cody Kessler. He might even need to train his replacement should the Browns draft a quarterback high in the NFL Draft. Given his history, there is some doubt he would be willing.
Why it doesn’t matter
Initial reports are that the Browns are not interested, and Cutler wants to spend his final seasons playing for a competitive team (the Bears ripped up their roster to become one of the NFL’s youngest). As such, the Browns and Cutler are not a match. The Browns should still do their due diligence and see if a seventh-round pick might be enough to acquire Cutler because if he is willing to be a mentor for the final phase of his NFL career, then he would help the Browns. As long as his shoulder is healthy, he has a resume that suggests he is capable of being a starting quarterback. Far more than other options such as Jimmy Garoppolo, and for a far cheaper price than the No. 12 overall pick.
103 Comments
Ok, apparently some of you aren’t paying attention. Look at the light.
LOOK AT IT!
https://media.giphy.com/media/65NO1TrKrJUT6/giphy.gif
Never visit any link or article concerning Cutler. Ever.
Return here… https://waitingfornextyear.com/
Ok we’ll put you down as a soft maybe.
The Browns just won their 5th Super Bowl in 8 tries. Congrats super fan…or should I say President Garry_Owen!
PS. You still owe me $2,500
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32310ad1593348e186a57ee1d0e8462efd40fcaad6a63cf28e1d80bd52c3ee3d.gif
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ad335e67f22d4b516573eda9908ab64bcca2effeb556e81e22910f829adfff0.gif
A picture of a 63 year old woman in a bikini….this can’t be right!
Heeeeeey, I’d stare her down all day, know what I mean? Heeeeeey.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90524ef91fb79bd4d0be0f2c4851cd698bfbe447135267a30d7fcaf70d5ac312.jpg
He won’t get your hopes up about being competent at the position either.
Man, I just remembered that I owe CBiscuit $2,500. As President, I should probably pay that . . .
Wait. What was that flash? I completely forgot what I was just thinking about . . . Oh well. Must not have been important.
And don’t be so sure about the price tag . . .
would you be willing get beat to a pulp next year , for say , i dunno , $4 million ??
$4 million guaranteed?
I guess so. And it wouldn’t take a whole year! I’d be beaten to a pulp after the first 2 days of camp!
so , there you have it … you will come at a much cheaper cost than those other clowns & i will enjoy rooting for you much more them.
just make sure you’re up-to-date on your life insurance.
No, no. I will feel horrible when he gets broken after the FO ignores fixing the right side of the OL. Whereas, I will only feel somewhat bad when it happens to a professional QB whom I do not know.
You’re right, he’s not THE WORST option.
https://j.gifs.com/kROp0v.gif
To be honest I commented before I read this piece, but my gif delivers the point I mean to make. He’s too much of a selfish DBag/coach killer/locker room cancer/headcase/jerk/whatever you want to call him. He just doesn’t have the attitude that our QB needs to have on this team. Whichever veteran QB we bring in (assuming Bobby Griff is gone), he will need to play a mentor role on this team to Kessler and the rook. While I agree that Cutty is a better QB than many guys available, he’s not right for this team.
With that being said, I would happily buy the Orange #6 jersey to add to my Couch/Frye/Quinn/Manziel/Hoyer collection
How ’bout we make it $6 million, then? I’d do it for $6 million.
We are a team that has had RG3 and JFF as starting QBs, so I think we could survive Cutler.
Bills reportedly working to keep Taylor. Romo only wants to go to Houston (and he wouldn’t fit this team either). Jimmy-G might cost a first-round pick. None of the draftable QBs separating as an obvious selection.
Part of why I’m OK with Cutler is the other options are pretty dang bad.
We need to first check to see if insurance will even cover this contract.
Thanks for reading & posting.
If we choose the correct young QB, then we could have similar success (see: Seattle & Dallas & Oakland). The issue is figuring out which QB that is.
Are the Bills really doing this? If so, how should we best go about tortiously interfering with the contract negotiation?
I’m here for the Helen Mirren comments. Well done, boys.
hi BRUCE … good post.
Yes. They are trying to renegotiate to keep him (probably saw what other options they had).
I suggest we sick Pat and the rest of the Hokie alum to convince him to never step foot in New York state again.
Seriously, we need to do something. I did not realize until you posted this how much of my confidence in this draft (and future seasons) hinged upon the expectation that we could and would sign Taylor. With him potentially out of the picture, this changes everything. Grabapablo? I really don’t want to do this, particularly if it means the 12. Draft a QB in the 1st round? I really don’t want to do this. Period. Trade down so that one of these things makes more sense? I definitely do not want to do this.
I’m starting to see why you think Cutler is an option. But yuck. Just, yuck.
Welcome to my world.
http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/36600000/Doctor-Who-for-Whovians-image-doctor-who-for-whovians-36613628-245-270.gif
Ty-Rod or bust. stick to the plan. my plan. (trade down).
well, you could always just tell him you didn’t like the work he did and that you’re not paying him the $2,500. You know, since you’re president.
I agree with you. Tryod Taylor is my guy.
hundred. Taylor is the first piece in my master plan. Trading down is piece #2.
Hmmm..Kapernick? Hoyer? Bueller?
Need to convince the Bills to let him go somehow – or Taylor to not accept a renegotiation
didn’t someone around here go to college with him?
Pat is a Hokie but way, way older. Like ancient. Maybe he needs to respect his elders.
To be fair Garry, Jay Cutler, aside from being a cat and therefore intent on killing his owner, is only as much risk as the assets you’d trade for him. And I don’t think Cutler is going to net any real trade value. Most teams would not be interested in trading rather than just signing him when he is inevitably cut, so the Bears will probably trade him for a few booklets of EZ-Savr diner coupons and a lowish draft selection. The only reason to pursue the trade instead of a signing is because the receiving team has no guaranteed money against them that way. In this respect, Tyrod (question mark) and Garropolo (no tape, Never Deal With a Dragon) are riskier because you have to cough up more trade assets and guarantee money.
Note: I am against a Cutler trade, but it is definitely the lowest-risk proposition.
Trading down from 1 would be a disastrous choice.
And building a d-line, and o-line, and secondary and linebacking corp.
Well, Jay may be taking his $112M and going home…..
https://twitter.com/RossTuckerNFL/status/834752749006897153
It is his only leverage to try to control the team he gets sent to (if traded).
He no doubt wants Houston, KC, or Denver (not sure on Denver given exit). The question is if those teams want him – especially if Romo and T.Taylor make it free.
Of the “bad” teams – I could see him in SF. Shanahan’s system works well with what Cutler does and SF media fawns more over athletes (for someone trying to rebuild his image to create a legacy – if he cares about that aspect).
Adding one more to the reluctant understanding of Cutler. Thanks.
Cutler and O’Brien on Hard Knocks, a ratings monster. HOU and DEN make sense to me. You put him on a strong team with all the other parts there and you potentially mitigate the negativity he can create.
Bad teams like CLE or SF just don’t make sense. I don’t see Hue or Kyle hitching their wagon to him. IMO, it would set them back at least two years when they could be developing a young guy.
if you have a younger guy you feel strongly you can develop – that is a bit of an issue this offseason.
Especially when you can go play pro handball with the Snake.
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Mercurial is probably a better description of Cutler. Not a fan. He’s not worth his contract. I could see paying him what RG3 made this season, but if/when he gets cut I expect both sides to avoid each other. I still believe that Garappolo is the main target for our offseason and will be procured at the cost of a 2nd round pick and maybe additional compensation next year.
Jimmy-G price (trade assets + new contract extension) will be fascinating to watch unfold.
Agree Cutler isn’t worth the dollar amount for our team but he is significantly better than RG3 and can be cut at any time with no dead cap remaining, which has a nice appeal.
Let’s face it, Hoyer is better than RG3 and may be had for half of what Cutler would likely demand. In fact, I wouldn’t complain about a QB room of Garappolo, Hoyer, and Kessler. Probably a long shot at best, lol.
Hoyer is better than RG3 but he is less than 1/2 of what Cutler is
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He’s also younger, less expensive, and a much better locker room presence for a couple of young QBs. Plus if you add Cutler what will his attitude be if he’s not named the starter? Will he help someone else to have success if it’s best for the team? I have my reservations. Besides, if he was that good, why would Chicago be willing to cut him without a replacement already on the roster?