It has been stewing for weeks now but the Chicago Bears are officially going to release quarterback Jay Cutler, per his request.
This comes on the heels of the breaking news that the Bears are expected to sign former Tampa Bay backup Mike Glennon to a 3-year contract worth nearly $15 million a year.
There are many mixed reviews and opinions on Cutler and his career thus far, but it’s always interesting to see a team move on from a starter and sign a backup to a big contract. But Glennon is a talented young player with a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio, and sometimes and change a scenery is all a young players need to spark a fire.
But whatever the Bears are thinking they have moved on from Cutler and the Glennon era begins in Chicago.
As far as Cutler goes, I have to believe he will be given a chance to start for another team. There are so few good quarterbacks and while Cutler’s career has been up and down, he can still start in this league.
Right now, the team that makes the most sense is the New York Jets.
The Jets rank 14th in cap space according to spotrac.com, so they have a little wiggle room to sign a big name QB.
The quarterbacks that are currently on the Jets roster: Geno Smith, Christian Hackenberg, Bryce Petty.
I don’t think anyone would argue that Cutler makes the QB room better. It seems like the Jets are fairly confident in Christian Hackenberg as the future of the franchise, but after essentially redshirting last year, I don’t think he is close to ready to start.
Cutler (33) can give them a few competitive years while they continue to groom Hackenberg, if they truly believe that he is their future. Starting Smith or Petty in 2017 is essentially conceding the season in my opinion.
The departures of Revis, Mangold, and Marshall certainly sting, but it freed up a lot of cap space, and remember, this was nearly a playoff team just two years ago.
Reuniting with Eric Decker and Matt Forte could be good for Cutler. Jay primarily stays out of the media limelight so going from the 3rd largest media market to the 1st would not be that big of an adjustment (his wife is former TV reality star Kristin Cavallari so maybe she would push for a move to New York).
Will this move happen? If the Jets front office has shown me anything recently, it’s that I have no idea what they are doing, and to an extent, it seems as if they don’t know what they are doing.
Here is the semantics. Last year the Jets paid Ryan Fitzpatrick $12 million and he had one of worst seasons for a QB in recent memory. So if you can get Cutler for around the same number why wouldn’t you?
Here is what everything comes down to in the NFL, or life in general. By signing this player, is my team better now than it was before signing him?
Cutler makes the Jets better.