Who is going to start at QB next year? Surely you would rather see Geno Smith again? Fuck it why not, getting a top 5 pick in the 2016 draft can't hurt too.
If the Bears cut him before the 3rd day of the 2015 league year all they owe him is the $15.5M for next season. If he's on the roster on the 3rd day of the 2015 league year then $10M of his 2016 salary becomes guaranteed. If he's on the roster for the 3rd day of the 2016 year all $16M becomes guaranteed. $25.5M for 1 more year of Cutler or trade him and pay nothing but a big cap hit or cut him and pay $15.5M next year. A sane trade might be Cutler + $8M of his 2015 salary for a 6th round pick. The acquiring team pays Cutler $7.5M next year and goes on the hook for $16M in 2016. The Bears pay Cutler $8M of his salary next year and take a $12M overall hit on their cap but are done with him at that point. The alternative for the Bears is to pay Cutler $15.5M next year and go on the hook for at least $10M guaranteed in 2016. If they're ready to move on they'll probably be ready to eat a big chunk of his 2015 salary in the process and give him up for very little compensation.
That's not the point. The idea is to get a winning, franchise quarterback. A lot of shitty quarterbacks are better than the ones we have now. That doesn't mean I'm interested in any of them. For all of his physical talent, Jay Cutler is a grossly overpaid, mistake-prone underachiever. I want the next guy to be the right guy.
I do too. You got a magic lamp we can rub and have the franchise genie pop out? Because I'm starting to think that getting a vet in here who can actually play for two years while we sort this out is going to be the only way to avoid having more tear gas come out of that lamp instead of the genie.
http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/12/17/2015-nfl-mock-draft-jameis-winston-marcus-mariota-randy-gregory Sports illustrated says we are still getting one. With Cutler, Bradford, and RGIII all possible free agents I wouldn't be surprised if things change come April.
I have no problem bringing a vet in here to be a stopgap while we find and/or develop our long term solution. But, I have no interest in overpaying for an overrated underachiever that half the fan base and media will look at as a savior. Plus, as you point out, without the Bears being willing to pay a significant portion of his salary, trading for him would be beyond idiotic. He's currently making more than Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Mark Sanchez and Russell Wilson combined. That's just fucking incredible.
The Jets have something like $100M in cap space right now over the next two years. They're one of the few teams that could reach a deal with the Bears to take two-thirds of the '15 and '16 guarantees and not break a sweat on the cap. I'm not saying we have to go get Cutler, because clearly we don't, but there's nobody else out there in free agency or the draft that you can pencil in as a 16 game starter for the Jets next year without crossing your fingers and praying the guy can play better than we think he can right now. The rookies in next year's draft should all sit and watch for a year. The guys the Jets have right now, well we know they're not the answer barring a miracle. The free agents are all mediocre QB's without exception. None of them are going to come to a team and be more than a game manager and not a very good one at that. Do we really want to go the Tampa Bay route and sign a Josh McCown to put in competition with Geno Smith and Matt Simms? Really?
I hear what you are saying about Cutler. I really do. But, I'm just not a Cutler guy. To me, he's Jeff George 2.0. He is what he is. I'd rather take my chances in the draft with an unknown, while letting Geno compete in camp and develop as a backup, than bring in a high-profile, underachieving big name who we pretty much have figured out. Cutler has 118 starts under his belt. He's 31 years old. He's never going to live up to his admittedly awesome physical potential. He's always going to be a disappointment. Again, he is what he is. I just don't want someone like that occupying the single most important roster spot on the Jets. The Jets have had enough of those guys over the years. We know what Cutler brings, but we don't necessarily know what any of the promising rookies bring.
Cutler is a bum. He has zero command on the field and loafs around like a child that had his favorite toy taken away. He'll be in a titans uniform next year anyway.
Go ahead and flame me now, but I'll take Sam Bradford over Cutler any day every day. The risk of injury pales to comparison to the risk of getting a head case with perennial immaturity and leadership issues. We should try to make the Rams an offer they can't refuse. And if we get him, or not beef the fuck up out of the OL. The rest will start getting into place.
I still believe Winston will be there when the Jets pick. He has way too much dirty laundry hanging out to go top 5.
Winston is young, obviously immature, mechanically suspect and he has terrible representation that is allowing him to get smeared all over the place before he's even entered the draft process. What makes anybody think that he could step into one of the highest visibility jobs with the most pressure in the sports world and succeed given what we know about him at this point?
It is like what we said before. Interceptions with touchdown passes are better than interceptions with FGs. Or no FGs.
Yep. The Giants have two trophies right now because they let Eli be Eli through some horrifically bad streaks. This is not suggesting that Geno is anywhere near as good as Eli btw, but if you train your QB to hand off the ball out of the shotgun, well I just don't know what to say about that. That's like the worst of all worlds.
Agree 100%. Bradford would be perfect. Injury prone players are only injury prone until they stop getting hurt. QBs that seem immune to injury suddenly get hurt - see Vinny Testaverde. No rhyme or reason. If we cannot get Bradford, take a shot with RGIII.
It's not an issue of the jets being able to afford him via trade, it's that he's not worth it at that price. Bring him in on a less expensive free agent deal, perhaps. But you don't overpay a bad QB just because you can afford to overpay him.
Let me fix that..."He has way too much dirty laundry hanging out to be on the Jets." I swear to god if the NY Jets draft this kid I will IMPLODE!!!!!! NY City is the WORST thing that can happen to a borderline "criminal."
Good post, Brad. I take it you noticed that the logic of Cutler's contract makes it very expensive for them to cut him, so they will need to trade him. And either way it will cost them money, so what a trading partner has to in effect do is balance the net effect of the trade/new deal where it is enough incentive for Chicago to do it, and avoid hte consequences of cutting him outright, while not taking on too much of the cost for someone who concededly has issues. Having said that, I know of no better, and that includes that it would be reasonably possible, scenario by which the Jets could end up with a new Qb who at least is a mid tier performer. As I have said before Cutler is not a young guy, but he's likely got enough left to allow the Jets to become a competitive team again and meanwhile allwo them also to find a more long term solution at Qb in the next few drafts. By that measure, he would be a very good move. One last note - I know some say his aloof attitude would not play well in the area here. I honestly don't know how to quantify that in the overall equation here. It is a risk. But I have had concerns about the attitude of every Jet starting Qb since Vinny, so it kind of comes with the territory. Something tells me if Cutler came here and produced as I think we could reasonably expect, Jet fans will be happy to have him, whatever his attitude is.
