Jay Cutler Wants Out of Denver

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Jay Cutler Wants Out of Denver

Filed on March 16th, 2009 in NFL ⋅ ⋅

Jay Cutler’s relationship with the Denver Broncos just got a bit rockier, as the quarterback told the team that he would like to be traded.

Things had not been well in Denver with regards to Cutler since word got out that the organization, particularly first-year coach Josh McDaniels, tried to make a deal to acquire Matt Cassel from the New England Patriots.

Cutler met with the team’s brass last week to try to smooth things out and the situation went from bad to worse. Now, it’s apparently gone from worse to worser.

According to Cutler, McDaniels made it clear to him that he did indeed want Cassel as his quarterback, and that no attempt was made to make Cutler feel confident in being Denver’s guy this year.

“I went in there with every intention of solving the issue, being a Bronco, moving forward as a Bronco,” Cutler said. “We weren’t in there but about 20 minutes, [McDaniels] did most of the talking and as far as I’m concerned, he made it clear he wants his own guy. He admitted he wanted Matt Cassel because he said he has raised him up from the ground as a quarterback. He said he wasn’t sorry about it. He made it clear that he could still entertain trading me because, as he put it, he’ll do whatever he feels is in the best interest of the organization.

“At the end of the meeting, he wasn’t like, ‘Jay, I want you as our quarterback, you’re our guy.’ It felt like the opposite. He basically said that I needed to tell him if we can’t work this out, to let him know,” Cutler added. “I thought he was antagonizing me and that was disappointing because I was ready to move on, committed as a Bronco. Really, I figured we’d hash things out, shake hands, laugh a little and move forward. What happened [Saturday] was the last thing I expected. If I didn’t think it could be fixed, I never would have come back to Denver. It was painfully obvious to me and Bus [Cook, his agent] it’s not something they want to fix.”

Cutler told the team that he will not report to training camp this week and would like them to find him a new home.

The Broncos have said that Cutler is the one that is out of line here, saying that his communications with the Broncos over the last two weeks was poor, and that the way he is acting is part of a bigger pattern.

Cutler said he understood what was going on and that football is a business, but that his time in Denver is up.

Both sides agreed that this isn’t about Cutler’s play, with the McDaniels saying he never criticized Cutler’s performance on the field, and Cutler confirming that that was never the issue. But one way or another, the relationship seems to be broken, and judging from past similar situations, it isn’t going to get fixed anytime soon.

The only other quarterbacks on Denver’s roster are Darrell Hackney and Chris Simms, so a Cutler trade would either have to be for a starting quarterback, or they would have to hit the free agent market.

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