In perhaps the least surprising news youâll hear this offseason -- at least until free agency really gets going -- the Bears are looking to move on from quarterback Jay Cutler. ESPNâs Jeff Darlington reports that the team has actively started seeking a trade partner for the 2006 first-round pick, who began his career in Denver before getting traded to Chicago before the 2009 season.
Cutler, who signed a seven-year, $126.7 million deal in 2014, still has four years left on his contract, but a divorce between quarterback and club has been a long time coming, and thereâs no way he sees that money. However, that doesnât mean he can be traded, no questions asked.
Darlington offers some context:
Cutlerâs contract doesnât have a no-trade clause, but that doesnât mean Bears can trade him without his willingness to agree. Teams know it.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) February 21, 2017
Cutler is 33. He has no guaranteed money left. If non-competitive team tries to give up late pick, he can sit out or retire. Teams know it.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) February 21, 2017
Thereâs also this:
Also, since Cutler received no signing bonus, he'll owe his new team no money if he retires. https://t.co/ZBXhYX1uLR
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 21, 2017
Cutler played in just five games last season because of injury, but in 2015, he ranked ninth in value per play among all quarterbacks, according to Football Outsiders, which was better than Matthew Stafford and league MVP Cam Newton. But that was the anomaly for Cutler, who regularly put up replacement-level numbers during his Chicago career.
Also not helping: reports last November that the Bearsâ locker room had given up on Cutler, though Kyle Long said in January that he âreally enjoyed playing with Jay.â
Long added: âHeâs a great guy. I think people are clueless about football and a lot of people want to act like they know what theyâre talking about, and we let them do that. Jay just continues to be a great teammate. So Iâve really enjoyed playing with Jay. Heâs a good friend of mine.â
However his teammates feel about him, Cutler will almost certainly be somewhere else in the coming months. Where, though? CBSSports.comâs Sean Wagner-McGough wrote late last season that four teams made sense for Cutler: The Dolphins, where Adam Gase -- the man who got the most out of Cutler when they were together in â15 -- is now the coach; the Cardinals, where 36-year-old Carson Palmer is coming off a down season; the Jaguars, who remain committed to Blake Bortles, though that may have more to do with a lack of options than anything else; and the Jets, an outfit that is moving on from both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith.
Of course, all this is moot if Cutler decides heâs had enough and walks away from the game altogether. And frankly, we wouldnât blame him.