News out of Denver is that Bronco's QB and franchise player Jay Cutler is extremely upset with his head coach and manegment. Word of this comes after rumors of a trade to bring Matt Cassel in to replace Cutler and send the starter to Tampa Bay surfaced on Saturday, hours after Cassel was sent to the Kansas City Cheifs. While this opens a sizable can of worms for the Broncos, it also brings us a chance to look back at Jay Cutler's draft class: The NFL Draft class of 2006.
The #1 pick in the draft that year was not a big name. Mario Williams of the Texans was the best defensive prospect. But he was not Reggie Bush. Everyone thought Bush was the next Marshall Faulk, Bo Jackson and LaDainian Tomlinson all rolled into one. 3 seasons later, Williams is a Pro Bowl DE, and Bush is a constantly injured special teamer with occasional flashes of offensive brilliance. Advantage Houston.
But the battle for the #1 pick is not the most interesting question looking back at that draft. It is, instead, what happened to these amazing college quarterbacks? Matt Leinart won a Heisman and two (well, 1.5) National Championships. Vince Young was a Heisman finalist and single-handedly beat Leinart and Bush's undefeated Trojans for the National Championship. How did Cutler, the strong-armed signal caller from a losing Vanderbilt team, become the best QB of the bunch?
Leinart was given the reigns to a good team, full of excellent receivers with an underrated defense. He couldn't do anything with it, and lost the starting job to a two-time MVP and owner of a Super Bowl Ring, Mr. Kurt Warner. Young played well enough to get to the playoffs, but put up no numbers at all. He has an abysmal career passer rating of 68.8. After getting hurt, being booed by his fans and benched for vet Kerry Collins, Young showed he lacked the mental toughness to be a starting QB, much less an elite one.
There is also a sizable also-ran category in this draft class. Vikings QB Tavaris Jackson had his job taken from him by Gus Frerotte, came back and replace the injured veteran and play well in the final weeks to secure a playoff spot, and then laid an egg against the Eagles in the NFC Wild Card round. He is now in a QB race with Sage Rosenfels. Jets QB Kellen Clemens was given the reigns to the team, then lost it back to Chad Pennington, then was replaced by Brett Farve, and now finds himself in a battle with other mediocre passers in the Jets QB race. We won't even get started with Brodie Croyle or Bruce Gradkowski.
And then there is Cutler. He went to the Pro Bowl this year. While he has been erratic at times, his passing game (with Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal) has been the only bright spot in Denver. They have yet to give Cutler a reliable rushing game or provide him with any sort of defense. And now they want to trade their only good piece. If I were Cutler, I would want out too.
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After one pro bowl year he should just demand they apologize and tell the truth behind closed doors. And play football because he still has a good wr core, and under this new offensive system he could be a more efficient and therefore dangerous qb. Idk how many yards he threw for, they lost the division to a talented but often dismal san diego team.
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