I never thought this blog would last longer than Jay Cutler's career with the Denver Broncos. He was a talented young prospect so good that the Broncos, a powerhouse organization only one game removed from the Super Bowl the season before, traded up to get him—or, in other words, a player whose upside was so huge, the team sacrificed its present to get his future. And now? He's gone.
How did it come to this?
* * *
Often I'll play devil's advocate with a move like this; you know, I'll try and explain how it makes sense from the other side of the table. Today, during the most disastrous Broncos offseason in memory—and the draft hasn't even happened yet, so settle in—I just don't have it in me. I don't think move is really defensible from a football standpoint. But what the heck: as the article above says, the Broncos are sending Cutler and a fifth-round draft pick this month to the Chicago Bears for quarterback Kyle Orton, Chicago's first-rounder in the upcoming draft, and the Bears' first-rounder in 2010.
Orton's a decent quarterback and certainly belongs in the league; as a rookie in 2005, he was the main starter for Chicago's 11-5 season, and he led the team to a 9-7 record this year despite some hide-the-kids passing statistics. He can play, and maybe on a young team that believed in him, he'd turn out all right. You could—and teams will—do worse. That said, he seems to fill the game manager role decently on a team with a good defense. The Broncos? They gave up 448 points last year, worse than everyone but the Rams and Lions.
Cutler, on the other hand, was just named a Pro Bowler after throwing for just over 4,500 yards and 25 touchdowns for Denver. He'll turn 26 this month. He's got two seasons and change of starting experience, and while he hasn't started his team down the championship path just yet, he's clearly improving all the time. In other words, he's potentially the most valuable piece in the game: a franchise quarterback.
So what are the draft picks worth? The 18th pick in this year's draft doesn't strike me as anything special, since this draft seems a little thin, though I've yet to hunker down with enough 40 times and hip rotation fluidity observations to be sure. Since Chicago was 9-7, has a recent Coach of the Year, and just picked up a strong-armed young quarterback, it's likely their first-round pick will fall even further down the ladder next year. At that point in the draft, there are still very good players on the board, but they often have question marks and can be kind of a toss-up. Considering the current regime didn't consider Cutler worth holding on to I have little faith in their drafting prowess…but we'll see. I'm not Chicago would have even wanted to make a pick there. I think the Bears made out wonderfully on the deal, and the Broncos have sent a clear signal to the fans that they do not expect a quick turnaround. Funny thing is, Jay Cutler's young enough to have been our star QB in a few years once we got more pieces in place.
* * *
The now-irrelevant but much more entertaining question is, whose fault is it that Cutler's gone? Do we blame ownership, and Pat Bowlen's baffling desire to turn into some combination of Jerry Jones and Al Davis? Do we blame the 15-year-old coach, Josh McDaniels, who just wanted to bring in his buddy QB from last year so he wouldn't feel alone in the new city? Or do we blame Cutler, another young millionaire whose feelings got hurt way too quickly?
Mark Schlereth of ESPN, the beloved left guard on the Greatest O-Line Ever, made a great point this morning in a video I can't find. (I think it had been on this story, which we'll get to in a second.) Anyway, he said Cutler was acting like he was the first player who had ever been lied to. You know, I was 100% in Cutler's corner through most of this, but I thought that was a great point. In the video that's up now, he talks to Hannah Storm with obvious distaste for today's text-messaging age in which people get to avoid confrontation. I loved it, and this morning while pondering the great debate (did the Broncos not call Cutler? Did he not call them?) I felt like Cutler may well be the kind of guy who just doesn't return phone calls.
The problem with the above story that the Broncos couldn't get a hold of Cutler—or that they never called in the first place—is that it's one big smokescreen. A really stupid smokescreen designed to obscure how badly the Broncos screwed this up in the first place. First, they tried to trade Cutler to the Patriots for Matt Cassell, who was oddly available to begin with. (Is Tom Brady less likely to get hurt now that he's older?) Then, though they couldn't get that done, they allowed Cutler to find out about it anyway. Then they bungled their several attempts to reconcile with him in various meetings and phone calls. (Maybe Cutler is a petulant baby. But at this point he hadn't done anything wrong and might have been okay with a sincere apology.) Then McDaniels goes to the press with this ridiculous, "well, you know, we gotta keep our options open" crap that may have sounded to fans like he was speaking hypothetically, but which I'm sure was read-between-the-lines clear to any agent or any young star QB who's inexplicably been on the trading block for a while already. Cutler demands a trade at some point, but then the story goes quiet. You never know: they offer him some money or something, and maybe the two sides can patch things up. But then, right before they make a deal, the Broncos decide to eliminate all leverage in trade talks by announcing publicly their intentions to trade Cutler. And then they do it, and they get a pretty crappy deal.
Is Cutler lying about how much he wanted to stay in Denver? Probably. But he didn't make this mess, and he shouldn't take the blame for it. On the plus side, I'm sure the Broncos will have plenty of time to think about their mistakes when Oakland's kicking our trash next year.
11 comments:
Let me take your second point first: the real problem here is how badly the Kindergarten Coach bungled this thing from the very beginning. There is no universe where trading a 25 year-old quarterback for Matt Cassell-or not patching things up with your star QB after your player personnel idiocy is publicly exposed-is a good idea. And Bowlen's role in the whole thing is weird. I understand wanting to be loyal to McDaniels, but why let him give the whole team away?
Now, the trade: whatever the cause(s) or wherever blame may lie, it sounds like the Broncos' and Cutler's relationship was irreconcilable-just see the "did they or didn't they text him last Saturday" drama. So my view is that they had to make a trade, and had badly diminished their trade leverage by letting this thing go public.
Given that back story, I actually think they did about as well as they could in this trade. There were only a few teams actually interested in Cutler because other teams have a QB they like or are developing. Of the teams available, I am not sure any could have paid a higher price.
The big rumor where I live is that the Redskins were going to make a move-but I am not sure Jason Campbell is better than Orton, and the Redskins characteristically have no other talent or draft picks on the roster.
So to walk away with a decent QB and some draft choices (including a 3rd-rounder, I think) may have been the best they could do in the situation-which was, of course, of their own making.
I just saw Mark Schlereth on SportsCenter, and I have to say I never expected to agree with him so strongly. He makes a great point about Cutler's sense of entitlement and text messaging, which has to be one of the most wimpifying inventions in male history. And I can really identify with the point that Cutler is not the first guy whose employer has lied to him . . .
Can't we all, my friend, can't we all.
I really love the name, the Kindergarten Coach.
Anyway, I suppose you're right about the idea that once the team decided to alienate & eliminate its key offensive player, they eventually got an okay trade out of it. I was a little bit of a drama queen about the negotiation leverage—I think the Broncos still had a bit by virtue of the fact that multiple teams were interested.
I'd much rather have Kyle Orton than Jason Campbell. You could at least say Orton's a proven winner; I'm not sure that really means anything in that context, but at least you could say it.
I could say that I'm usually a little disappointed by Schlereth, who's never stood out to me, but as former Broncos-turned-announcers go I'm way more let down by Shannon Sharpe. I think Schlereth's done a great job on this story.
this was a great read mike, and i'm glad to see that there are people who are irked about it, instead of just taking the "cutler stop whining" approach.
the statistic i caught on espn that was the most staggering to me was this:
in games where the broncos D kept opponents under 21... cutler was 13-1.
the lone loss was when GB ran back a kick for a TD in overtime. so easily that game could be a win.
the thing i think about the most is this:
it is clear that cutler has the kind of potential to be one of those special players in the league. what you do to keep him on your team, happy, so you can win games is up to the coach and owner (within reason).
i don't think cutler's demands were too far out. i'd be mad too if some newb coach wanted to trade me for a guy i was CLEARLY better than.
you have to have some attitude, some moxie... some ego to be a great player. it is the root of competitiveness. the ability to believe that you are better than your opponents - and then execute. cutler had that.
so point being, the kindergarten coach blew it. as has been said in NE - no media questioned anything the pats did so they weren't used to the criticism.
mcd should've smoothed this over, and his failure to do so shows his lack of knowledge of cutler's potential, which i think is rare.
Thanks. Of course, in Denver, almost everyone is taking the, "Cutler's a baby" view of things. It's partly true, but he didn't want to get traded, he didn't ask for more money, he's not soft on the field or anything, etc., etc. Most cities LIKE good young athletes and pump them up to absurd degrees but we've never quite embraced Cutler, Carmelo, Clinton Portis, and probably others...
I'm sure most quarterbacks' records look pretty good when there's a "the defense held them under X points" qualifier, but still, 13-1 is a sparkling mark, and I think the Bears are going to be really good next year.
Thanks for your point about Cutler being better than Cassell, which I forgot to make in my post. I completely agree. Cassell's a year older, too!
I'm upset because it took us from when Elway retired until basically now to find a reliable, long-term starter at the position. Having a good quarterback makes everything else so much easier, from the draft to the locker room. Who knows? It could easily be ten years before we find another one. (Keep in mind that for all the criticism of Shanahan, he got us Cutler, and Plummer's about as good of a stopgap as you can realistically find...but with a couple of bad years looming for the team and McDaniels, I feel like the franchise's prestige is about to drive off a cliff.)
The jury's still out on whether Cutler will become a truly great player, of course, but you're absolutely right: we know he at least has the potential, and there was no reason to give up on it so soon.
Let me first say, that it's great to have you back Mike!
It seems almost inconceivable that the Broncos allowed this to happen. I don't really fault McDaniels for trying to trade Cutler, but after it didn't work out, how hard would it have been to get on a plane to Tennessee and talk to Cutler face to face (without that idiot Cook there to bungle everything up. On a side note, this is the second consecutive off season that I've had to endure endless round-the-clock coverage of a deal involving a QB with Bus Cook in the middle coincidence? maybe maybe not.) As soon as Cutler found out then McDaniels just needed to man up and go apologize and this whole situation could've been avoided. Instead both McDaniels and Cutler took the he said he said (or should we say he texted he texted) rout which led to the total deterioration of any potential relationship.
I can't think of any other team ever trading a young potential franchise QB before, but I do agree with John that they did about as well as they could have. I'm not sure that we've even seen Orton's potential yet since he's only had third string receivers to throw to. It will be interesting to see how he does with the Denver offense.
Thankee, Blaine.
I don't understand why McDaniels didn't do exactly as you said and have a meaningful conversation with Cutler. The only plausible reason I can think of is that the team was still absolutely determined to trade Cutler and figured it wasn't worth their time or whatever. Maybe they figured they could appease the fans by trashing his reputation first?
Orton'll be better on a team with a real offense, but who's to say how we'll be in a new scheme. In any event he won't approach Cutler's abilities.
Steve Young and Brett Favre got traded as youngsters; it just didn't happen right after they went to the friggin' Pro Bowl. Elway, too, though that's a bit of stretch.
Also, in case you weren't kidding, it has to be a coincidence with the agent, doesn't it? The Broncos decided to start trade talks all by themselves.
also, steve young and brett favre were both backups when they were traded, not coming off impressive pro bowl years.
I think I do know why the Kindergarten Coach didn't fly out to Tennessee and talk to Cutler face-to-face: he thinks he is Bill Belichick. Seriously, doesn't his entire MO smack of something Belichick would do-come in, tell the stars they aren't that good, and try to build some "team" mystique-minus Belichick's genius? I am starting to wonder whether Bowlen's approach was to can Shanny because he wasn't willing to make big changes to the team, and to bring in someone who would.
I of course agree that the Kindergarten Coach totally bungled it when he tried to change recess buddies; that Cutler has the athletic skill and ego to be a special player (as no less than the Duke himself said this week); and that this whole situation was avoidable. I hope this is not the end of the history's greatest sports franchise . . .
Yes. McDaniels still has the arrogance of the team that was even more motivated than ever...because they'd been caught cheating.
Maybe Shanny didn't want to make changes (who frickin' knows), but if he was opposed to this change, well, he was right.
Post a Comment