Jay Cutler is not going to be the Chicago Bears’ quarterback when the 2017 season starts. (Well, 99 per cent he’s not going to be.) And it turns out, he might not be anyone’s starting quarterback. Or even anyone’s backup quarterback.
NFL.Com’s Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday night that Cutler is considering retirement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XItsGMKff58
“There are a lot of teams that need quarterbacks, but it is no guarantee that Cutler even plays in 2017. One of several veterans who are still considering whether they want to play, whether they want to play, not play, retire, walk away. A lot of things in play here for Jay Cutler.”
Cutler is only 33, so this is a bit of a surprise, on the surface. Of course, he has suffered a litany of injuries throughout his career, from torn ligaments during the infamous 2011 NFC Championship game all the way through last season’s torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, sustained while playing through a thumb injury.
Perhaps most relevant to Cutler’s decision, though: his extensive concussion history. If we treat concussions as an iceberg and assume that the diagnosed instances are merely a percentage of the overall issue, then Cutler has had plenty of them.
Staring down another new team with yet another new offense, having earned tens of millions of dollars already, and trying to ensure a healthy life after football, it becomes a bit easier to understand why Cutler might float the idea of retirement.
Of course, it’s also easy to view this as Cutler aiming for leverage when it comes to a potential trade destination, as well. That’s not a bad ploy, though it sometimes doesn’t work for athletes. (Switching sports, Dan Haren did the same thing before he was traded to the Marlins, but he ended up pitching in Miami anyway.)
It’s crazy to think he played all or part of eight years as a Bear, but at this point it’s tough to see a scenario in which Cutler is back under center in Chicago.
My first comment about this rumor would be “who says”? Ian Rapoport? The guy is the very definition of “fake news” in the world of the NFL. I seriously doubt he has any inside info coming from anyone that could possibly confirm this so it’s only click bait for more articles about it in which his name is mentioned for having speculated about it. That’s not hard to do. I could write that Aaron Rodgers has expressed an interest to finish his career in LA or SF in order to be closer to Olivia Munn but it wouldn’t make it true either.
On the flip side why shouldn’t Cutler at least consider retirement if a trade doesn’t benefit him or his career? The last thing he needs is to play on one more NFL team whose front office has mismanaged it’s team into near oblivion. Cutler became John Fox’s scapegoat this past season and in doing so he’s both impacted Cutler’s trade value and painted Ryan Pace into a corner yet has still has his job and that’s what I mean about a front office so f’d up they can’t ever get out of their own way. Until that changes the Bears will be stuck on the precipice of complete failure no matter who plays QB.