Anyway, the biggest news of the last few days has been the opening of free agency in the NFL and as usual, my hometown Denver Broncos have been extremely active. As expected, the Broncos took a sledge hammer to their defensive roster from last year cutting multiple starters including two players (Dre' Bly and Dewayne Robertson) that Mike Shanahan had traded for. When your team's defense ranks in the bottom 3-4 in the league in virtually every category, and was the main reason for your head coach's firing, then this certainly makes sense. We're also told the Broncos will be switching from a 4-3 defensive alignment to a 3-4, meaning a lot of new personnel would be needed anyway, regardless of how effective or ineffective the old players were.
So the Broncos made headlines late Friday -- the first day of free agency -- by being rumored to sign former Eagles' Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins. They also signed a pair of running backs (Correll Buckhalter and JJ Arrington) and a couple other defensive players. By late Saturday, the Dawkins signing was confirmed (along with the signing of another former Cleveland Brown, linebacker Andra Davis) but it was clearly overshadowed by the day's biggest story: the Kansas City Chiefs acquiring Matt Cassel from the New England Patriots. Next thing I know, a headline on ESPN.com reads "Cutler Upset" and I'm wondering what in the world could this be? That's when the Broncos' offseason moves turned confusing.
Evidently, according to multiple sources, the Broncos had been shopping quarterback Jay Cutler (just in his third year and coming off a Pro Bowl) and looking to trade for Cassel themselves. As we found out, the Chiefs, whose new GM is Scott Pioli, formerly of the Patriots, gave up just a second-round pick (#34 overall) for Cassel. But rumors were that the Broncos had almost come to an agreement with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that would have sent Cutler to the Bucs for Tampa's first and third round draft picks, and then sent a first round pick to the Pats for Cassel. Certainly there must be more information yet to come to the surface, because right now this situation is rather mind-boggling. Here's why:
- If you're the Patriots and you have a chance to get a first round pick in the 12-19 range for your backup QB, why would you instead give up the QB and a veteran linebacker (Mike Vrabel also went to KC in the deal) for just a second rounder? Is there another conditional pick involved that hasn't been announced yet? Is this a buddy-buddy deal between Pats coach Bill Belichick and Pioli? Does Belichick secretly hate or resent new Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, a former Pats assistant, the same way he apparently hates Eric Mangini?
- If you're the Broncos, why in the world would you want a QB who has started just 15 games in his career since high school and had good, not great, numbers in those starts over a younger player that was a high draft pick, still has 3 years left on his deal, and is coming off of a Pro Bowl season? Add to that the fact that you're likely going to have to re-sign Cassel to a long-term deal for big money, and it really makes no sense. And if you're the Broncos, you'd better be sure you can complete the deal if you start talks because you already know that Cutler can very very temperamental (he stated publicly that he was angry over the Shanahan firing, for example).
Let's hope this isn't indicative of how the new Broncos front office and coaching staff are going to run things in the future (can you say New England West?). Definitely an exciting weekend for the Broncos and their fans, but certainly not for all of the reasons most would like. Looks like McDaniels is going to have his work cut out for him with this team, and he's not entirely blameless in the situation.
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5 comments:
Why is Cutler considered "temperamental" simply for saying he was angry about Shanahan's firing? The guy drafted Cutler and mentored him for three years. I'd be pissed off if I were in his place, too. You have to wonder if one reason Cutler was on the trading block is because McDaniels was afraid that Cutler would be hard to work with because of his anger about the Shanahan firing.
Would Cutler be hard to work with? Would he stew about the whole thing? I don't know enough about the guy to make a judgment. But I do know things are going to be much harder now as that relationship appears to be shot to hell.
What annoys me is when players who are willing to speak their mind are crucified for being honest, while journalists complain that very few players are willing to give them anything other than a canned answer. If you label players "temperamental" or call them crybabies, as Gene Wojciechowski did on ESPN.com, when they have the temerity to admit they don't agree with every move their organization makes, or if they take it personally when their organization wants to trade them, how can you expect players to be willing to give honest answers? It's gotten to the point that most athlete interviews are entirely unwatchable because they offer nothing of interest. But I guess many sports journos like Wojciechowski have to complain or rip on players in order to get people to read their work.
The link to Wojciechowski's article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3946294&sportCat=nfl
The reason I said "for example" on the Shanahan comment was because it was just one of numerous instances where he's proven to be temperamental. Another instance is his on-field shouting matches with Chargers QB Philip Rivers (and some of his off-field comments relating to that feud).
I agree that there are reasons why the Broncos could have been shopping him, namely the rift created between him and the organization when Shanahan got fired. But I had also heard that Cutler and McDaniels had talked and were creating a relationship that would have been workable. That's what makes the decision to shop him all the more perplexing. Surely McDaniels had to know that any trade discussions, if they leaked to Cutler (which it almost certainly would in this 24-hour news era), would be taken by Cutler as a vote of no confidence. Once the cat is out of the bag, you almost have to move him no matter what because the working relationship may be irreparably damaged.
Chris
So does Cutler now have to go, or is reconciliation possible?
I would say a reconciliation is possible and it's probably the best course of action for all parties. From the Broncos perspective, McDaniels must have felt that Cassel gave them a better chance to win, but that doesn't mean he doesn't believe they can win with Cutler. He needs to tell Cutler that it wasn't a vote of no confidence in him, rather it was a sign of respect to Cassel and his abilities. From Cutler's perspective, to an extent I agree with Wojciechowski that Cutler needs to grow up and understand that it's a business, and even if the Broncos were exploring trading him, the best way to prove they were wrong is to play well for them and prove his worth for his next contract. Pouting or demanding a trade (remember, the Broncos have some very good young talent on that offense) could make life more difficult for him. It's not like he'd have any say on where he gets traded, so who knows where he might end up (Detroit? Is that better than Denver?).
>>Note: PTI is reporting that the Broncos and Vikings are involved in on-going talks about Cutler. This sounds foolish to me. The last thing the Broncos should do is give Cutler to a team that could turn around and win a Super Bowl with him. Plus, I'd want more in return that just a decent 1st round pick for Cutler, a semi-proven QB in the NFL. I'd want a proven player (Kevin Williams or Jared Allen would be great) or multiple picks, including a first.
As both a Broncos and a Vikings fan, I'd be torn on a Cutler trade. I think I'd be for it, though, since I think the Vikings are much closer to being a Super Bowl contender at this point than the Broncos are, and I'd rather have one team with a good shot than two mediocre teams.
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