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When the Bears released Jay Cutler in early March he was rightly considered one of the best available free agents. A quarterback still capable of starting -- and winning -- in the NFL, the expectation was that he'd join a team looking for a bridge to the next face of the franchise.

The Jets, Texans, Browns and 49ers were, for different reasons, obvious destinations. But the Texans and Browns drafted quarterbacks in the first two rounds of last week's draft, the 49ers signed veterans Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley -- and traded into the third round to take C.J. Beathard.

Which leaves the Jets. 

They drafted Christian Hackenberg in Round 2 last year, and Bryce Petty in Round 4 the year before that. They also signed 37-year-old Josh McCown. Still, the quarterback position remains the biggest issue heading into offseason workouts and Cutler, who just turned 33, seemed like a viable option -- right up until the moment he decided to join Fox Sports as an NFL game analyst.

But Cutler didn't walk from the field to the broadcast booth without first double-checking all his options.

Nothing materialized from those "real discussions" with the Jets, which we can only take to mean that the team will move ahead with McCown, Hackenberg and Petty. And while we wouldn't call that a sound strategy, it's not like the Jets are a replacement-level quarterback away from the playoffs. They might as well see what they have in Hackenberg, especially since the 2018 quarterback class is expected to be loaded.

It's also not surprising that the Texans' conversation was characterized as "less promising"; they traded up in the first round to take Clemson's Deshaun Watson, and coach Bill O'Brien has already said that he has confidence in veteran Tom Savage.

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. Now he joins Fox Sports' No. 2 broadcast team where he'll work alongside Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis.