Thursday, April 2, 2009

Broncos Finally Pony Up, Trade Cutler

As of today, Jay Cutler is a member of the Chicago Bears franchise.

Well, it finally happened. The Broncos pulled the trigger on a deal for Jay Cutler. Maybe now we can finally hear sports news about something else.

The trade sends Cutler to the Chicago Bears along with a fifth round draft pick in exchange for two first round draft picks, a third round draft pick, and QB Kyle Orton.

I think the Broncos got the better end of the deal here. It seems counter-intuitive because Cutler is definitely a franchise quarterback, but let's look at this in context for a second.

In this trade, the Bears got a franchise quarterback. That's great. That gives them a good start.

However, they don't have anything close to a superstar receiver and they have a defense that's aging rapidly. Cutler is a good QB for the future, but they mortgaged a big part of that with all the draft picks they gave away. Even with Cutler, it's unlikely that the Bears compete this year.

On the other hand, the Broncos get a QB from the Bears that's good, but not great, along with three draft picks. If they draft wisely, they can make up for the loss of Cutler and then some.

The Broncos are probably not going to win their division this year either, but they have a nucleus of young players (well, except in their secondary) in place, and this will help them build through the draft in the immediate future.

Honestly, I'm amazed the Broncos were able to pull off such a heist for a player that everyone knew wanted out anyway.

2 comments:

Luis said...

IT'S BASEBALL SEASON!!! WHO CARES ABOUT FOOTBALL!! :-))

Nate said...

Ha! I agree, which is why we'r emostly blogging about baseball right now, but I think this was a newsworthy enough offseason move to post about.