Jim Donaldson -- Cutler deal Bear-ly comprehensible
7:46 AM Fri, Apr 03, 2009 | Permalink
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Sorry, but, in this case, I can't. Having pointed out months ago that the Patriots were going to trade Cassel because they couldn't afford to keep both him and Tom Brady, the Bears were one of the teams I listed as being a logical bidder for his services. Yet the Bears allowed Cassel to wind up in Kansas City for the bargain-basement price of a second-round pick in the upcoming draft. To make the deal even sweeter for the Chiefs, the Patriots threw in versatile veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel at no extra charge. Certainly, Chicago could have gotten Cassel if the Bears had offered their first-round pick (#18 overall) to New England. Apparently, the Bears felt he wasn't worth that, and opted to go with incumbent QB Kyle Orton. Until, that is, Cutler became available after a serious personality conflict with the Broncos' new coach -- and former Patriots offensive coordinator -- 32-year-old Josh McDaniels. Cutler was miffed when he learned McDaniels had talked about trading him to Tampa in a proposed, 3-way deal that would have brought Cassel to Denver. The young coach and young (26) QB couldn't patch up their differences, Cutler expressed his desire to be traded, and the Broncos fulfilled his wish, sending him to Chicago in what appears to be a sweet deal for Denver. To get Cutler, the Bears sent their first- and third-round picks this year, plus their first-round pick next year, along with Orton, to Denver, which in turn gave Chicago its fifth-round choice this year. You have to figure the Bears could have had Cassel for a first-round pick. So how do you figure Cutler is worth two No. 1's, plus Chicago's starting QB? Yes, Cutler, a first-round pick out of Vanderbilt in 2006, went to the Pro Bowl last year, after throwing 25 touchdowns, with 18 interceptions. But the Broncos also were supposed to go to the playoffs, leading, as they did, the AFC West by three games with three to go. But they lost all three of those final games, in which Cutler threw for just 2 TDs, with 4 INTs. The Patriots didn't make the playoffs, either. Frustratingly, they became only the second team in NFL history to finish 11-5 and fail to qualify for the postseason. Ironically, Denver was the other, in 1985. But, while the Broncos completely collapsed down the stretch, Cassel led New England to four December wins, in which he threw 8 TD passes and just 1 interception. Stepping into the lineup when Brady was hurt in the first quarter of the first game, Cassel -- a seventh-round pick out of Southern Cal in 2005, even though he'd never started a game for the Trojans -- finished the '08 season with 21 TD passes and 11 interceptions. He completed 63.4 percent of his passes while throwing for 3.693 yards. His QB rating was 89.4 In comparison, Cutler's QB rating was 86.0. He completed 62.3 percent of his passes, good for 4,526 yards. He started 37 games in his three years in Denver -- all 16 in each of the past two seasons -- but never led the Broncos to a winning season and had an overall mark of just 17-20. Combine those numbers with Cutler's recent behavior, and compare them with how Cassel performed after stepping in for Brady, and it's inexplicable why the Bears would give up so much for Cutler when they could have Cassel for a lot less. 
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I grew up in New England as Patriots fan and moved to Chicago. I follow both the Pats and Bears very closely and there's a very simple explanation here to your confusion....NOBODY outside of New England believes Cassel is an above avg QB. Kansas City and Denver don't count because Pioli and McDaniels were pulling the strings.
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Jim, not sure why you are so certain the Bears' 18th pick alone could have sealed the deal when the Broncos couldn't get the job done with Tampa's 19th or their own 12th pick. It seems certain from my perspective that the Cassel trade was a good bye present to Pioli who presumably talked the Pats into drafting him in the first place.
Sorry, I'm just inundated with these Cutler stories out here in the windy city. It's like we just traded for the Pope.
Jim, what do you think about the Patriots signing Michael Vick? The Pats are one of the few teams that can keep him in line and we could use his athleticism, not to mention as an emergency QB.
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