Jay Cutler: What Do I Think?

Maybe local sports media people got together and paid someone to start this trade rumor and the resulting Jay Cutler/Josh McDaniels tiff. Because it sure has given them something to talk about all week. And I do mean ALL week.

The question about weather the alleged trade would have been a good one can be resolved by a simple six month test. As in, six months ago (September 2008), would the Broncos have traded Jay Cutler for Matt Cassel?

The answer, of course, is no. No, no, and double no. No way.

So what changed in six months? Matt Cassel played pretty decently during the second half of the season as the quarterback of a team that played in four Super Bowls in seven years - but did not make the playoffs. And then his mentor, Josh McDaniels, was hired as Broncos coach and apparently decided Cassel would continue to prosper under his tutelage.

We can also answer the question by applying another test - which I call the Bubby Brister test. As you might remember, John Elway missed several games during the 1998 season - the year of the Broncos' second Super Bowl triumph. Bubby Brister stepped in and looked pretty good as the quarterback for a few weeks - in fact, he went 4-0 as a starter.

He did so well that he became the starter after Elway retired - up until it was time for the first regular season game, when Mike Shanahan woke up and said, "Wait a minute, this is the same Bubby Brister who used to be a mediocre QB for the Steelers! I've been tricked! Give me Brian Griese!" I predict a similar fate for the KC Chiefs. One day they'll realize - "Hey! This is the same Matt Cassel who didn't even start in college! You've tricked us, Bill Belichick!"

I would also like to apply the gift horse test - as in the gift horse of the 2006 draft. Cutler was the third QB taken - Vince Young and Matt Leinart didn't even start for their teams last year. So it's not that easy to find a Pro Bowl quarterback - they sort of lucked out to get Cutler in the first place.

And last of all, let us apply the John Elway test. I've been following the Broncos since 1984, so I remember back when Elway was the same age. He was immature, he made a lot of mistakes, he threw a lot of interceptions, and everyone wondered if he would ever realize his potential. A lot of Broncos fans don't have a memory that goes back before 1997, though. They think Elway won 16 Super Bowls in 16 seasons, I think. But there were the 14 years of frustration and failure.

So, no, I don't think trading Jay Cutler is a real good idea. But I also didn't think hiring Josh McDaniels as head coach was a real good idea, either.