Newly minted Chicago Bears Head Coach Jake Fox referred to Jay Cutler as Jake not once but twice in his introductory press conference. Yes, it’s just a couple of verbal gaffes, not a big deal…On the other hand, it’s certainly not a good thing either.
Fox certainly has plenty of time to get to know “Jake Utler” very well between now and the start of the 2015 NFL season.
So who will be taking Jay Cutler and his albatross of a contract off their hands? Not likely the Tennessee Titans, who reportedly had indeed explored a trade for the malcontent signal caller. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen though.
So now it’s John Fox who must face the monumental task of getting Cutler to care. The new offensive coordinator, rumored to be either Adam Gase or Charlie Weis, will join Fox in this endeavor.
Yes, ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Adam Schefter, was gracious enough to give me a few minutes of his time tim to talk Chicago Bears and NFL news. (Here’s Schefter’s assessment of Peyton Manning’s future)
The podcast of our exclusive conversation is below (Jay Cutler talk begins around the 1:00 mark). Here’s what Schefter had to say about the hires of John Fox and GM Ryan Pace.
“I think there are enough teams with quarterback questions that one of them which doesn’t wind up getting a quarterback in the draft or free agency will wind up taking a look at him, but any team that trades for him takes on $28.5 million dollars,” said Schefter on the challenges of trading for Jay Cutler.
“Not to say it can’t be done, but it’s going to be very challenging. My guess would be they give Jay Cutler another year in Chicago, see how it works and go from there. I think they’ll explore the idea of trading him, but I think it’ll be very difficult done.”
So let’s say Cutler has a 2015 season that mirrors his 2014 season. He’ll be much easier to move then, correct? However, what would the Bears get in return?
“If he had another season like that it would be another blight on his resume, and it would take a team, to be perfectly frank, with no other options, that is totally desperate, and that thinks it can be the one that gets his talent out of him, and he’s got a lot of talent,” concluded Schefter.
“He can be a very good quarterback, he’s just proven to be problematic over the years.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)