Broncos dance party: Ten teams like Cutler
The team has listened but is telling suitors it wants to keep its angry QB.
By Mike Klis
The Denver Post
Posted: 03/20/2009 12:30:00 AM MDT
Updated: 03/20/2009 01:22:39 AM MDT
If the Broncos decide to formally put Jay Cutler up for trade, they won't have trouble finding partners.
An NFL source said "more than 10" teams have called the Broncos this week inquiring about Cutler.
In most instances, those teams communicated nothing more than interest should Cutler become available. The Broncos have listened but have told all comers their plan is not to trade Cutler. He requested to be traded Sunday.
Cutler, 25, threw for a franchise-record 4,526 yards and was named to the Pro Bowl last season, but his relationship with new coach Josh McDaniels has been sideways since Cutler learned of a trade proposal that would have made former New England quarterback Matt Cassel the Broncos' quarterback. Cutler would
have gone to Tampa Bay in the three-team deal.
Cutler's agent, Bus Cook, told NFL.com on Wednesday the root of his client's discontent was that Broncos owner Pat Bowlen didn't keep his word of retaining his offensive coaching staff intact after firing head coach Mike Shanahan. Instead, Cook said, Bowlen hired McDaniels, an offensive-minded coach who didn't want to keep Shanahan's top quarterback assistant, Jeremy Bates.
However, Cook must have forgotten Cutler signed off on the coaching changes during Super Bowl week, a few days after McDaniels set his staff.
"I talked to him after he got hired and it went really well," Cutler said of McDaniels on Jan. 30. "You know, when we got off the phone, I was excited, I really was. I had a good feeling about it."
Clearly, Cutler's problem is with the trade proposal and how McDaniels has since handled it. McDaniels admitted to Cutler he had interest in Cassel after coaching him the previous three seasons as New England's offensive coordinator. But McDaniels also said his interest never reached a point where he submitted the idea to Bowlen. Cassel was instead traded to Kansas City.
Since then, McDaniels and Cutler have talked twice, one in a conference call, and again Saturday in a meeting that also included Cook and Broncos general manager Brian Xanders.
Each conversation ended without Cutler not feeling reassured McDaniels trusts him to be his quarterback. After issuing his trade request, Cutler skipped McDaniels' first team meeting Monday and the first week of the team's offseason conditioning program.
A second NFL source said the Broncos remain optimistic about soothing the situation with their quarterback. Team officials do not want to give up on the tantalizing possibility of teaming Cutler's enormous, if not fully developed, talent with a coach who coordinated a New England offense to an NFL record 589 points in 2007.
The Broncos would not be surprised if teams more aggressively pursue Cutler during the NFL owners meetings that begin Sunday in Dana Point, Calif.
Which teams would be interested in Cutler? It might be easier to count the teams who already have franchise quarterbacks.
Teams who figure to have untouchable passers are New England (Tom Brady), Indianapolis (Peyton Manning), New Orleans (Drew Brees), the New York Giants (Eli Manning), San Diego (Philip Rivers), Pittsburgh (Ben Roethlisberger), Cincinnati (Carson Palmer), Green Bay (Aaron Rodgers), Atlanta (Matt Ryan) and Baltimore (Joe Flacco).
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
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