If you live in Chicago, chances are you might remember where you were when you first heard that the Bears had traded Kyle Orton and other considerations to the Denver Broncos for Jay Cutler in 2009. Today, Cutler is locked in to a long term deal with the Bears that makes him the highest paid player in the NFL. That’s right, Cutty does it to the tune of $22.5 million in just the 2014 season alone.
However, as we learned today, it almost didn’t happen. In an interesting revelation, it’s actually Washington, not Chicago who were supposed to pry Jay Cutler away from Denver.
Five years ago, it could have been the Washington D.C. media that would have been treated to Cutler’s emo personality in press conference. It would have been Skins fans making “Cutler face” jokes every Sunday in the fall on social media whenever Jay Cutler takes the field.
Jay Cutler really wanted to join Washington. It was 2009 and Cutler, irked by overtures from new head coach Josh McDaniels toward Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, demanded a trade from the Broncos.
In a story and video vignette on CBSSports.com (you got to love the graphic of Cutty in a Washington uniform, and standing next to Daniel Snyder), Jason La Canfora shares behind-the-scenes perspective on the trade that wasn’t meant to be from Vinny Cerrato, Washington’s VP of Football Operations at the time, including what led up to it, and the fallout for the Redskins, Bears, and Broncos. Cerrato shares as much as he can “without getting anybody else in a lot of trouble.”
“It totally changed three organizations, and the direction they all went,” said Cerrato, now a sports talk show host in Baltimore. “You look now with Cutler, and (Bears coach Marc) Trestman is going to make a player out of Cutler, and Cutler’s grown up now, too. I’m a big Cutler fan. Cutler’s going to be a Pro Bowl guy. And Denver, Josh, that was just a matter of time. That was a time bomb to go off there … Mike would have never traded for McNabb … And you think of what they could have drafted with those picks (three first-round picks and a second-round selection), if you got some receivers and some offensive linemen — just the depth they would have had. They wouldn’t have to spend it all on a quarterback. It would have changed the outcome of a lot of organizations, but things happen for a reason.”
Read the story and see the video here.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN2