Recently, there have been numerous reports that the Chicago Bears were aggressively shopping Jay Cutler. In a way that’s not really news as the Bears tried to move him on NFL Draft day a couple years, reportedly to the Tennessee Titans, who supposedly ended up not quite interested enough to take him.
Then, in the next Jay Cutler news cycle, there was talk that the polarizing quarterback was considering early retirement.
That’s obviously a euphemism for “no takers.” Now, on March 9th, the news became official- the Bears will release him, and he shall become a free agent.
Bears are releasing QB Jay Cutler, per sources. Cutler asked for and was granted his release this morning. Now a free agent.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 9, 2017
That’s per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
It’s hard to believe that the Bears couldn’t find a buyer for him; anywhere in the NFL. Yes, it’s well chronicled how much #6 does not get along with his teammates, how poor his leadership skills are, and just in general how disliked he is by so many who have come into contact with him.
However, the NFL is filled with coaches and coordinators who are like women with a serious bad boy complex- they keep saying to themselves “I know this guy is trouble, damaged goods and has attitude issues, but I’m the one who can change him! I will be the one who can change him!”
Cutler will be 34-years-old when the season opens, so his new team will have to pay him $12.5 million. The Bears are done paying him the guaranteed money on his blockbuster deal, which made him the NFL’s highest paid player in 2014, so they are no longer on the hook for paying him anything. By releasing Cutler, the Bears will save $14 million in cap space.
Just visited WGN TV studios to join CLTV “Sports Feed” with Jarrett Payton (son of Walter himself) to talk Jay Cutler and you can view the video at this link.
Quarterbacks with the skill set of Jay Cutler rarely, if ever, hit the open market, so it’s likely there’s a team still out there for him. Not to mention it’s a seller’s market for QBs, because so many NFL teams need one right now.
Now that Cutler is done in Chicago how will he be remembered?
Jay Cutler has played 11 seasons in the NFL, either with the Bears where he went 51-51 as a starter. That’s mediocrity in its most purest form.
Cutler rewrote the Bears record book for passers. Name a Bears passing record, he’s pretty much got it (including passer rating, TD passes and passing yards), and you have to consider him the best passer in Bears history. He’s not the best quarterback though. I fully understand and appreciate the argument against overvaluing QB wins. It’s the same as overrating pitcher wins in baseball.
However, we’re not talking about individual player efficiency ratings, +/- statistics or anything like that. Quarterback is the most important and over-scrutinized position in all of sports. To quote Head Coach Tony D’Amato in Any Given Sunday, “it’s the top spot kid, you’re the one who takes the fall.”
While I realize it’s not completely fair to judge a QB by wins, it’s just the way it is, and thus it will be the same for Cutler.
For better or worse, you are judged by what you did or did not accomplish. Maybe it’s not right, but it’s the world we live in.
In the pantheon of Chicago quarterbacks, Sid Luckman and Jim McMahon will always be viewed upon much more favorably than Jay Cutler. That’s because they delivered championships. Of course, there really isn’t much of a pantheon for Chicago Bears signal callers- that’s the problem. They’re a franchise that’s had some of the most legendary running backs and defenses the league has ever seen.
They haven’t had much to boast about at QB and when Cutler arrived it came with out of this world fanfare. The hype and anticipation was off-the-charts. Finally, Chicago was going to have that All-Pro QB, as Cutler was coming off a Pro Bowl year. The Denver Broncos knew exactly what they were doing when they traded him away.
Everywhere he’s gone, Cutler has both burned bridges and failed to win consistently. In his defense, no one could have lived up to the hype that heralded his arrival. He was expected to somehow accomplish things that no other QB in an entire history of a franchise had done.
He was greatly mischaracterized after the 2010 NFC title game too. Jay Cutler is, was, and has always been tough and you’re a total meathead if you think otherwise. That said, his painful lack of charisma will always be his defining characteristic and it will likely overshadow his accomplishments.
Jay Cutler did have some hits while he was where, but his personality deficiencies will make us remember the misses much more distinctly. The Bears have signed Mike Glennon, and they’re paying him $15 million to be Cutler’s replacement, but that’s a stop gap solution at best. If you can even call it a solution.
The Bears have the third overall pick in this draft, so they should seriously consider taking a signal caller. We looked at how Mitch Trubisky might fit in with the Bears over at this link.
We also looked at how Deshaun Watson might fit in with the Bears over at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and Bold, contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN.
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