The Chicago Bears and head coach John Fox may look at a Jay Cutler trade this offseason and teams like the Washington Redskins, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns could be interested in making a move if general manager Ryan Pace opts to deal the quarterback after he was previously benched during the 2014 season for Jimmy Clausen.
Cutler was the highest paid player in football last season after signing a seven year deal with the team and now his future could be up in the air. After he was benched, Michael C. Wright at ESPN Chicago wondered whether his career with the Bears was over, while other speculated about where he could be traded. According to Adam Schefter at ESPN.com, while a trade is not certain by any means, teams like the Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins and Tennessee Titans could be interested in making a deal.
The Redskins have RG3, but after the way he has performed the past two years they could look at adding a veteran and this comes after they had interest in him before he was traded to the Bears. The Titans are in desperate need of a quarterback and Cutler has connections to the area after playing his college ball at Vanderbilt. The Browns have issues with Johnny Manziel and a ton of cap space and they are one of the only teams that could absorb this contract and not get too burdened. They also have a ton of draft picks to work with, including two first rounders.
Pro Football Talk reported that John Fox was "non-committal" about Cutler when asked about the quarterback in his first press conference with the team, but that doesn't mean he will look at trading Cutler. Fox likely felt it was too early to make any decisions on Cutler and now he will work with new general manager Ryan Pace on what to do. When Pace was hired, the Bears said that he would have power over who would be the next head coach and also about the future of Cutler. Pace came in after head coach Marc Trestman and GM Phil Emery were let go and now he has the chance to build the team up after coming over from New Orleans.
Train Cutler it difficult no matter what team is interested, as he signed a seven year deal worth over $100 million and next year he has a base salary is $15.5 million, which is guaranteed. Cutler was benched by Trestman after playing for 15 weeks and in Week 16 it was Clausen who got the start. Cutler did not have a bad season statistically, but at that point the Bears were not winning and they ended up finishing 5-11 on the year.
Cutler led the league in interceptions and turnovers and that is why he was benched. Cutler set a career high with 28 TD passes and a 66 percent competition percentage, but overall he was not helping the team win. According to ESPN.com, the Bears are bringing in Dowell Loggains to be the QB coach and that could be a positive sign for Cutler. The report says that the two have a "strong, personal relationship" and that Cutler wanted Lovie Smith to hire Loggains back when he was still head coach of the Bears.