It comes as no surprise that the Chicago Bears are shopping quarterback Jay Cutler. The Bears must find a suitable trade partner that both the team and Cutler, who does not own a no-trade clause, agree on to complete a trade. It’s likely that Chicago is expecting a late-round pick.
If Chicago can’t make a deal work, then they may just release Cutler outright.
Two teams in particular to watch are the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers.
The Jets have a roster that is not in a complete rebuild mode but not far away from one. With solid quarterback play, such as what Ryan Fitzpatrick provided them in 2015, they are capable to compete for a playoff spot.
But with the horrid play at quarterback that they team saw in 2016 they look like a team that is in desperate need of hitting the reset button.
Since this year’s NFL draft doesn’t offer a deep quarterback class and with the Jets unlikely to be in the position to get one of the draft’s top flight signal callers, New York may be inclined to pick up the phone and call Chicago.
The Jets also boast a few of Cutler’s former teammates in Chicago; running back Matt Forte and wide receiver Brandon Marshall.
On paper, the trade makes some sense.
For San Francisco they may be interested in a veteran quarterback to come in and act as a bridge to what many experts believe will be a rookie 1st round quarterback. San Francisco is in dire need of a starting quarterback and in almost every mock draft, they are slated to go ‘QB’ with their #2 overall pick (they have been mostly connected to North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky).
Having a veteran quarterback like Cutler could provide that bridge but it is highly unlikely that Cutler would be on board with a trade to a team that is in no position to win, even less so than Chicago, when he could opt to be released and test the free agent market.
