He drew a ton of flak from players and media for being unable to finish the NFC championship game due to a knee injury. Last but certainly not least, he forced his way out of Denver after a massive falling out with new head coach Josh McDaniels. For over a decade the major story regarding Cutler in the draft was that the Denver Broncos traded up twice from 29th overall to get him at Because when the Broncos traded up — not once, but twice — in the first round of the draft to select Cutler at No.
The first time I talked to him was after they picked me. Given the typical style of drafting quarterbacks these days, the idea a team moved up 18 picks to draft a guy they never met once sounds utterly ludicrous. No one is that dumb. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Choose Blog Cleveland Browns. Are the Denver Broncos' positioning themselves for a QB this offseason? How the Denver Broncos defense looks without Von Miller.
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The assigned office-check scout: "Good tools for the position. Good overall arm strength and a good athlete. Flashes poise and will stand and deliver the ball. Takes some shots from blitzes and the rush. Has tremendous confidence in arm strength. Strong over the top delivery and can fire a ball in tight spaces when he needs to. His combine numbers were impressive as well. At 6'3", pounds, he clocked a 4. His 23 reps at pounds were best among all quarterbacks and backed up his "gym rat" reputation.
He would later do 27 reps and vertical jump 32" at his Pro Day. There was consensus, too, on his shortcomings as a college player. The scouts countered with, "Doesn't always scan the field. Needs some refinements to his technique. Will throw backing up. Telegraphs a lot of his passes. He tries to do too much at times. He'll throw it up for the receiver to make a play. Doesn't step into some of his throws. Saw some panic in him at times and he makes some questionable decisions with the ball under duress.
Inconsistent long ball accuracy. In summary one scout wrote, "There are a lot of people talking about this guy in the early first round. I don't see that type of player at this point.
I see a good QB with some athleticism and a strong arm. I think he has to improve his accuracy and be better with the ball versus pressure, but I do think he can develop into a good NFL quarterback.
An assistant coach added, "He has some holes, but if he gets them fixed, the upside is huge. It may take a while but between his arm strength and character, he'll be successful. I'd bet on the come and draft him later in the 1st round. Heimerdinger was sure we could iron out any small wrinkles in Cutler's game. He referenced conversations he'd had with the Vanderbilt coaching staff on Cutler's skills and ability. He backed up stories about his leadership and toughness from seeing him play and practice in person.
He helped push Cutler up the board into legitimate discussions as a possible early first-round pick. I was most impressed by Cutler's dogged determination, toughness and tenacity.
He started all 45 games he played at Vandy. This was an SEC quarterback who got the living crap kicked out of him week after week by superior competition, yet kept coming back for more. He never wanted to be taken out of a game and listed a hip pointer, concussion and ankle sprain as his only injuries over four seasons of continuous beatings. It was an off-the-field incident his freshman year that forced him to miss his only game, a misdemeanor charge for underage drinking.
Our staff actually liked that fact. It gave him some edge. We debated every angle of evaluation: positives, negatives, character, health history, mental capacity, leadership ability, physical makeup. We all agreed that Cutler had first-round talent, but he needed some time to mature and learn behind an experienced veteran. The philosophy was no different than what Green Bay implemented just a year before with Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.
However long it took to bring out his best, we were willing to invest the necessary pick to develop our next franchise quarterback. It was the kind of development project that could produce big dividends come the next "Black Monday.
Even with Cutler rising on our board and getting good reviews, it wasn't necessarily getting any more likely that he'd end up with our team. But we'd need to move in the draft to get either, and we weren't sure it'd be worth it to do that. Plummer was still our guy, his teammates loved him, and we didn't feel too much pressure to make a change. Scouts and coaches were just doing their normal evaluation process, letting the data and reports come in before making any rash decisions or rushing to judgments.
Everything appeared routine. The numbers didn't add up for McKay, and he needed a third party to even things out. The deal was that we'd get the Falcons' first-round pick 15th overall , send our first 29th to the Jets and send our third and fourth to the Falcons, who'd also get Abraham. I liked the deal for us. It was a chance to land a top-tier player regardless of the position before the draft even started, a rare opportunity in Denver.
A third and a fourth seemed like pennies to gain the leverage that normally costs at least a second-round pick—or perhaps the alternative of losing eight to 10 games to earn the rights.
I took the proposal to Shanahan and wasn't prepared to accept "no" for an answer. It didn't take much to get his approval.
I called Rich back and said, "We're in. We entered the draft under our usual cone of silence. Our staff was given strict orders to discuss nothing about our interests, and it drove the local media nuts.
Shanahan and I didn't believe in bringing in prospects for predraft visits. If we hadn't already gained a good enough feel for the player through our earlier interview process, then we hadn't done our jobs.
Besides, why tip your hand? NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue stepped to the podium. Mario Williams, defensive end, North Carolina State. David Carr had gone to the Texans with the same pick back in , and though many Texans fans wanted to see Vince Young in red, white and blue, Kubiak wasn't ready to give up on Carr. They took Reggie Bush. Tennessee's turn. Steve McNair was coming off a disastrous '05 season and was 32 years old.
The Jets were up next, and drafting Cutler or Leinart certainly was possible. Chad Pennington missed most of with an injury and was turning Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace announced Wednesday the team will release backup quarterback Mike Glennon at the start of the new league year.
How does everyone stack up? Who's taken? Who's still available? It's Super Bowl week! So, what do you need to know? Plus, why the Bears made the right move hiring Matt Nagy to be their head coach.
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