Dude, I hope he gets traded to the Jets. That would solve all our problems. You could have Kellen Clemmons. Sounds like a fair trade!

Sounds like a mess. This sort of reminds me of when San Diego let Brees walk a few years ago--except that there's no Phil Rivers type on the horizon in Denver. I think Denver is probably worried about Cutler's health problems and they must assume that he overachieved in 06 (just like San Diego thought the undersized Brees overachieved to reach his success on the left coast). Plus, Cutler has a little bit of a reputation as an attitude problem--something that is not being helped with his current actions. I like Cutler, but I'll take my team's QB (Matty Ice) over him today.

I'm sure Cutler has a bit of an attitude, and I don't excuse his sort of pissy behavior, that's for sure. It just seems like the Broncos really let things get out of hand, which I can't really understand. NOT a great way for a new rookie head coach to introduce himself to the team. "Hi guys! Remember that Pro Bowl QB we had last season? Well, he's outta here, but it's totally not my fault. Now, please welcome your new starter, Rex Grossman!"

mad_typist -- You'll hate me for saying this, but it's time to start repeating the new Broncos mantra "In Josh we trust." I say this as a 28 year NE Pats fan, McDaniels not Cutler will get you into the playoffs.

Please don't flame me for saying this. Expect Cutler's career to spiral downwards.

As a Chicagoan living in Bronco country, we would be more than welcome to join the Bears. We'll gladly give you Grossman.

HE would be more than welcome to join the Bears is what I meant.

I happen to know that Jake Plummer is available.

OE, I won't flame you, I promise :)

However, just looking at the Broncos, I'm not sure that I'm feeling 100% optimistic about McDaniels's prospects there without Cutler at the helm. Like I said, this is about the worst possible way he could get off with a new team. This is assuming that reports about Cutler being a jerk are overblown (if not, perhaps the team will be happy about his departure, though I doubt this is the case).

Even in the worst case scenario, the Lions, Cutler will probably be okay. Remember, the Detroit offense wasn't THAT horrible last year. It was their defense. Assuming they make moves to fix the defense, I'm not sure Cutler would be too upset to have Calvin Johnson to throw to, with Kevin Smith handling the running game.

I think this whole affair was the fault of upper management. They needed to decide before they hired a coach whether his system would suit their franchise quarterback. There are very few quarterbacks in this league who have proven they can have a really good year with a unstable running game and a weak defense. Peyton Manning has never done it; Tom Brady has never done it; and Matt Cassel has sure as hell never done it. The idea that Cutler's career will now spiral downward is not only nonsense; it is the kind of nonsense the corporate style NFL loves to promote. I can remember when Eli Manning would never have a decent career because he blew off the Chargers. A few years later he's sticking it in the kazoo of what has become America's fastest fading franchise.

Matt Wilhelm, linebacker for the Chargers, said it best.

"He's a punk."

And the record backs it up. The Chargers tried to give the Broncos the division. Hello? They were 4-8. Dead. Finished. Three games back with four to go.

All they had to do is win one game and the division was theirs. And what did they do?

Choked and gagged. Seriously, the Broncos gagged as badly as the Yankees did when they took a 3-0 lead against the Red Sox and lost it.

I see your point, Tony. But it takes a team to lose, particularly in the epic way the Broncos blew up at the end of the season. Cutler made some mistakes, but it was pretty much the lack of a running game and the incredibly terrible defense that did the Broncos in.

I've been in this town since whoever preceeded Craig Morton. And the real answer to this "dilemma" is - Who cares?
Play, dont play. Have your tantrum (Jay) or parade your ego (Josh) but please DENVER grow up! Want to be a world class city (you could be you know)? Tell the world you held a World Youth Day with the last Pope, you had a G8 summit and a Democratic Convention in wartime and you did all these things pretty much free of any real issues (try that Seattle, Chicago and New York).
Then walk them over to your museums and your parks. You dont have anything to hang your head about, least of all a bunch of overpaid immature athletes and their hangers-on.

Hey, lay off Denver, Tim. I know it's a little ridiculous but I'll take the honest, involved Bronco fans any day.

And to answer your question, MT, I have no fucking clue. I'd just like to knock three heads together -- McDaniels, Culter and owner Pat Bowlen. Fucking idiots, all three.

@Aaron Rury -- the Pats had a 11-5 record. They were outcoached and out played by Indy, the Jets once, and Miami once. They simply weren't good enough to get in the playoffs, so no offense taken. My defense of McDaniels is his work with Cassel who was on his way out of NE during the '08 preseason. For a team who lost Tom Brady, they got production from a QB who last started a game in high school.

Mad_typist -- A couple of years ago everyone thought Cutler was the second coming of Elway...wasn't that said about Plummer too? The NE personnel staff looks at every draft prospect and knows who fits and doesn't fit in that system. McDaniels must know something about Cutler. My guess is that Cutler goes to the Jets.

@OE, I don't recall Jake Plummer being called the second coming of Elway, but maybe one of the Denver fans out there can correct me.

Consensus around the league seems to be that Cutler is a top 10 QB, with tons of upside. Is he a future Hall of Famer? Probably not. Is he a franchise QB? You bet he is. And franchise QBs don't grow on trees.

While I was impressed with the performance of Cassel in 2008, consider a few things: 1) the Patriots offense was largely intact, save for Brady, so he still had the amazing Randy Moss and Wes Welker at his disposal, 2) the AFC East wasn't quite as strong as we first thought it might be, 3) they had several games against the sooooft AFC West.

Here's another statistical comparison.
Cassel in 2008: 3,693 yards, 21 TD, 11 INT
Derek Anderson in 2008: 3,787 yards, 29 TD, 19 INT

Don't put too much hype into a great single year performance.

Cutler has shown steady improvement over his 3 years in the league. Consider also that his numbers in 2007 were affected by the fact that his Type 1 diabetes went undiagnosed for quite some time.

I totally forgot, but speaking of Derek Anderson and the Cleveland Browns, that's another team that Cutler could go to. It would actually be the best thing that could happen to Denver, as they could acquire either Anderson (who maybe just needs a little TLC from his host city and a receiver who actually catches the balls thrown his way to shine again) or Brady Quinn.

And therein lies the Cutler problem. He's good, but the Browns could swing a three-way deal that would essentially swap Cutler for Anderson straight up and a lot of people (myself included) would see that as a decent deal for Denver.

Anderson is in the same general range as Cutler as far as QBs go. Then there's a dozen QBs clearly better (or more desirable) than Cutler: Eli Manning, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Matt Ryan, Phil Rivers, Drew Brees, Donovan McNabb, Tony Romo, Big Ben, Kurt Warner, Joe Flacco, and Carson Palmer.

Looking at the rest of the QBs in the league, is Cutler really that much of an upgrade over guys like Derek Anderson, Trent Edwards, David Garrard, Jake Delhomme, Kerry Collins, Chad Pennington, Aaron Rodgers and Jason Campbell? I don't know. Cutler is clearly in the league's second tier (at best) when it comes to QBs right now. Sure, he'd be a major upgrade for Chicago, Detroit, K.C., San Fran, Oakland, Minny or Tampa--but that's about it. The biggest problem Denver would face by dumping him is finding a replacement.

(he'd also be an upgrade for "Jersey B" and Houston)

I'm not 100% sold on young Joe Flacco yet (though I love the kid), so I'd take Cutler over him. I'd also take Cutler over Carson Palmer, since I'm not sure how Palmer's recovery is going. I'd also put him on an even scale with Eli Manning, who has never really wowed me, and who clearly suffered the loss of Plaxico late in the season (and he also benefited from a hellacious running game that took a lot of pressure off him).

The best deal for the Broncos would be to get either Quinn or Anderson in a trade from Cleveland. The best deal for Cutler would be to go to the Jets. A deal where no one wins is if Cutler goes to the Lions for the #1 draft pick (and the salary cap implications that go with that draft pick)

yeah, but for the Cleveland scenario to work, you need a third team that wants a QB. Perhaps Minnesota or New York? Cutler to one of those two, Anderson to Denver and a third (or more) player(s) from Minn/NY to Cleveland.