Bowlen: Cutler's good as gone
By Mike Klis
The Denver Post
Posted: 03/31/2009 07:10:02 PM MDT
Updated: 04/01/2009 05:16:33 AM MDT
Broncos quarterback
Jay Cutler formally submitted a trade request March 15. (Denver Post file photo)
Pat Bowlen is fed up.
And as Broncoland has come to understand during this tumultuous offseason, when Pat Bowlen has had it, people pay with their jobs. The most important of people.
Jay Cutler, the Broncos' star quarterback, is all but gone. Frustrated at what he perceives as Cutler's unwillingness to communicate, Bowlen announced Tuesday that he has given his front office permission to begin the process of working on trading Cutler.
"Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by head coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful," Bowlen said in a statement. "A conversation with his agent earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos. We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded."
This is no April Fool's joke. Bowlen was referring to a conversation Tuesday morning between Bus Cook, Cutler's agent, and Broncos general manager Brian Xanders. According to a source close to Cutler, Xanders told Cook he had better get in touch with his client because Bowlen wanted to speak to his quarterback. By Tuesday evening, Bowlen had reached his breaking point.
Thus, Bowlen, in the 25th anniversary of owning the club, has dismissed iconic head coach Mike Shanahan and is about to dump his franchise quarterback in the same offseason. Shanahan, who had been the Broncos' coach the previous 14 seasons, was fired Dec. 30 and replaced 12 days later by McDaniels.
Here's a twist — while Bowlen was declaring the end of the Cutler era, Shanahan sank a hole-in-one, according to his former attorney Harvey Steinberg. Shanahan got his first hole-in-one soon after getting fired by the Oakland Raiders in 1989.
Cutler had heard about Bowlen's statement Tuesday but said by text message, "I'm not talking about it."
A source close to Cutler said the quarterback was surprised by Bowlen's declaration. In recent days, Cutler had packed up his car in Nashville and had it shipped to Denver, where he intended to show up for the team's first minicamp April 17-19. The source added that Cutler said he has not received phone calls from the Broncos since he received a text from McDaniels a week ago Tuesday. Whatever the interpretation, Bowlen decided to exercise his ownership powers and end all confusion. He's the boss, and he says the team will trade Cutler.
The Washington Commanders are among the leading candidates to pull off a deal for Cutler. The Commanders have a proven young quarterback in Jason Campbell and would meet the Broncos' preference of dealing Cutler outside their American Football Conference. The Commanders also have the No. 13 selection in this year's draft on April 25, one spot behind the Broncos.
The New York Jets also have been aggressive in their pursuit of Cutler. The Jets, who have extra picks in the third and fourth rounds, are better stocked for the upcoming draft than the Commanders, who don't have picks in the second and fourth round.
Four other National Football Conference teams — Tampa Bay, Chicago, Minnesota and Detroit — have previously expressed interest in Cutler.
Suddenly, a situation that was both unthinkable and inevitable is about to occur. Unthinkable because Cutler is only 25 years old and was voted to the Pro Bowl during only his second full season as a starter. A young, franchise quarterback is considered the rarest of commodities, to the point of almost becoming untouchable for trade. Almost. For as the trading period opened late on Feb. 26, McDaniels discussed a proposed three-team deal that would have sent Cutler to Tampa Bay and former New England quarterback Matt Cassel to Denver.
The deal never materialized, and McDaniels said discussions never got serious. But Cutler was disappointed upon learning his coach had thought about dealing him. More significantly, Cutler came to distrust McDaniels to the point that two subsequent clear-the-air conversations between the two only intensified the young quarterback's displeasure.
On March 15, a day after Cutler and Cook met personally with McDaniels and Xanders and a day before the Broncos began their offseason conditioning program, Cutler formally issued a trade request. The stormy relationship seemed to calm a week ago Tuesday. McDaniels repeatedly reiterated to a large media gathering at the NFL owners meetings in Dana Point, Calif., that he wasn't going to trade Cutler. They would work it out. He's the Broncos' quarterback.
After that press gathering, Cutler, who has been staying in Nashville through most of the offseason, told The Denver Post he and McDaniels were going to talk that night. The two exchanged text messages, but both sides agree a conversation never took place.
McDaniels had said last Tuesday that he had received messages from other teams inquiring about Cutler, but the team wasn't responding. It appeared then that the team would wait until its first minicamp before reaching its breaking point with Cutler.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
