Bears, Jets Set On Deal For Jay Cutler

| April 20, 2016 | 0 Comments

Well, this is getting fun.

Thanks to a pair of blockbuster trades, the Rams and Eagles will select a pair of quarterbacks- Cal’s Jared Goff and North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz, in some order- with the top two picks in next Thursday’s NFL Draft. Now general managers around the league are scrambling to make sure they’re not left without a viable QB when the music stops.

The New York Jets, unable to solve their Ryan Fitzpatrick dilemma, won’t head to camp with just Geno Smith and Bryce Petty under contract. A source says the club has been looking for an opportunity “to trade up and draft one of the top tier guys” but the “window’s shut” after losing to Philadelphia in a four-team bidding war (Eagles, Jets, Bills, and one unnamed team) to acquire Cleveland’s number two overall pick.

Now the Jets are setting their sites on supremely-talented but much-maligned Bears’ QB Jay Cutler.

The Bears, who have been fielding (and considering) offers on Cutler during most of his tenure with the club, are finally in a spot where the cap ramifications of dealing the 2006 first rounder would be “manageable.”

A deal between the Jets and Bears is ready to go contingent on the availability of Memphis QB Paxton Lynch to the Bears on draft day.

The Bears currently hold the 11th pick in the draft. Coincidentally, it’s the identical spot where the Broncos selected Cutler ten years ago.

A source says the Bears are willing to jump up from number eleven to draft Lynch, but absent a trade partner, any speculation about details of that trade would be frivolous. Any deal to move up is not expected to impact the negotiated swap with the Jets.

Geno Smith’s role in this deal is intriguing. Having worn out his welcome in New York, he’d be thrown into a competition with David Fales and Matt Blanchard for the number two spot on the Bears’ depth chart. This, of course, assumes Lynch is installed as the starter out of the gate.

We’re assuming nothing.

Stay tuned.

Category: sports feature