Jay Cutler CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 24: Jay Cutler #6 of the Chicago Bears walks off of the field after losing to the Washington Redskins at Soldier Field on December 24, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. The Washington Redskins defeated the Chicago Bears 41-21. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler doesn’t have a home (yet, at least) for the 2017 season. But that doesn’t mean he has no backers across the league. Notably, Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase, his former offensive coordinator in Chicago, is backing Cutler for a starting quarterback job.

Via ESPN:

“I think he’s a starting quarterback in the NFL,” Gase told reporters at the owners meetings in Phoenix.

Wow, Adam. That’s a bold call.

If you like him so much, why not bring him to the Dolphins?

“I had a very brief text message exchange with him [this offseason] just saying that if he needs anything to holler at me,” Gase said. “I guess it was more if you’re going somewhere and you need to know about it — any organization or coaching staff — just holler at me and I’ll give you what I know. I’ve never brought up anything about coming with us (to Miami) because I like our situation. I love Jay, but I do like the situation we’ve got going on right now at our place.”

Ah yes – Gase likes Miami’s situation. This is despite the fact that starter Ryan Tannehill is coming off a year that saw him throw 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, spraining both his ACL and MCL in a Week 14 win over the Cardinals. Those ligament sprains ended his year, resulting in Matt Moore quarterbacking the team to wins on the road against the Jets and Bills before getting humbled by the Patriots in Week 17 and the Steelers in the AFC Divisional playoffs.

Though it’s a fair point – Cutler probably isn’t an upgrade over Tannehill, and not equipped to replace Moore as backup. Gase eluded to this when talking about Cutler’s prospects as a backup, something he’s never had to do during his career.

“It’s not as easy as people think it would be when you’ve been a starter for your entire career and then all of a sudden, be like, ‘OK, I’ll be a backup.'” Gase said. “If that’s the role in his mind that he wanted to do, then he’d probably be good [at being a backup]. But if that’s not where his mind is, then I wouldn’t see him wanting to do that.”

There aren’t that many starting jobs still up for grabs across the league, and the Jets, who many thought was Cutler’s best chance at a starting gig in 2017, seemed to take themselves out of the running by signing Josh McCown. Ironically, McCown was Cutler’s backup in Chicago from 2011-2013.

[ESPN]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.