Retired quarterback Jay Cutler on talks with Jets: 'The stars didn't really align'

The former 2006 first-round pick retired after 11 NFL seasons

By Ryan Wilson

Jun 9, 2017 at 11:01 am ET • 1 min read

Jay Cutler retired from the NFL last month after 11 season and promptly joined Fox Sports to be part of the network's broadcast team. Up till that moment, he was one of the best available free agents and would have almost certainly found work in the coming weeks.

The Jets were one of the quarterback-needy teams interested in Cutler's services and the two sides reportedly had "real discussions" before Cutler eventually decided to join Fox Sports. One reason the two sides went their separate ways: The Jets signed 38-year-old Josh McCown in late May, and he's currently the early favorite to win the starting quarterback job for the 2017 season.

"The stars didn't really align for me to get out there," Cutler told ESPN's Adam Schefter this week on his "Know Them From Adam" podcast. "By the time I was scheduled to get out there, my buddy Josh had taken a visit and they worked something out with him. It all worked out. I'm happy for him."

The Jets reached out to Cutler as soon as the Bears released him in early March but he admits that he wasn't interested in quickly signing with another team.

"I kind of balked at that because I didn't really want to jump into anything," he said. "Whether they would've offered me a contract or that it would've worked out, I have no idea. That's something the Jets know more than I know."

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.

Meanwhile, the Jets' search for a long-term solution at quarterback continues; 2016 second-round pick Christian Hackenberg has shown glimpses of progress this offseason but he remains a work in progress -- and looks to be a long way from challenging McCown for the starting job.