'Cut' Deep

It's come to Jay Cutler's attention that his new coach tried to deal him in a three-way trade involving the Patriots, Bucaneers, and Broncos. In the proposed deal, Cutler would have gone to Tampa Bay (who desperately need a quarterback to replace Jeff Garcia), Tampa would in turn give the Patriots 1st and 3rd round draft picks, who would then give the Broncos Matt Cassel.

This is after the Broncos hired former Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, to replace long-time headcoach, Mike Shanahan. Obviously, McDaniels would feel more comfortable with a familiar quarterback (and a young, up-and-comer at that), but should he have put Cutler out there if he didn't know that he could get Cassel for sure?

Either way, Cutler has now found out about the trade proposal and is (for lack of a better term) rather disenchanted with McDaniels. Can you blame him? Offering Cutler as trade bait shows that McDaniels doesn't trust him or believe that he already has a competent quarterback. Cutler's alienation has people wondering whether he'll stay in Denver

The worst part is that the Broncos are still denying that they ever proposed trading Cutler, rather than 'fessing up' and trying to patch things up with Cutler. If amends are not made quickly, Cutler may hold out or demand a trade. That will leave the Broncos scrambling for a new quarterback in a fairly narrow free agent market. Hey, maybe they can give Kurt Warner a call or see if the Chiefs (who actually got Cassel) want to trade straight-up.

Now, the question is: should Cutler stay? As I said earlier, when a new coach tries to deal you without even giving you a shot, you don't tend to believe he has a lot of confidence in you. However, the Broncos have not been slackers this free agency period. They've signed Jabar Gaffney, who will make a nice slot receiver among Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal. Also, they've signed some marginal backs, J.J. Arrington and Correll Buckhalter, to keep from having to go three deep into their practice squad. Not to mention the notable signing of ex-Eagle Brian Dawkins on defense. Maybe right now isn't the best time to be leaving Denver. If you can all think back to the beginning of this year, the Broncos were looking to be a real contender. This was, of course, BEFORE a curse was placed on all their running backs that turned them all into glass. Also, Brandon Marshall proved this weekend that he can't stay out of trouble STILL.

Another question that's worth considering is: if this proposal was made, why did the Patriots decide to trade both Cassel and LB Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs for a second round (34th overall) pick instead of taking the Bucaneers 1st round (19th overall) and 3rd round picks for just Cassel? A real head-scratcher.

Time will tell what happens to Cutler in the Broncos, but I don't think it's going to end up the way any of them want it to.