The Chicago Bears are fully committed to Jay Cutler through the 2016 season. There is no other option than to keep the quarterback on the roster unless a team emerges from a dark corner to make a trade for the monster contract. Cutler's salary is fully guaranteed for the next two years meaning financially Chicago has no choice but to keep the quarterback around. However, they do have an option of whether or not to play him.
Head coach John Fox told CSN Chicago that he wants a quarterback competition. Speaking with the media during the NFL Annual Meeting, Fox made it clear that while Cutler is the starter for the moment, nothing is guaranteed and the Bears want to see what everyone has to offer.
"It's all an open competition," Fox said, via CSNChicago.com. "Obviously you've got to start somewhere and my experience in football, really in anything, it's not where you start a competition; it's where you finish it. But we've got to start the race with some kind of lineup. We have not discussed that in depth. We have not presented it to our players yet. I kind of have it in my brain and then they compete. Logically, if you're looking at a depth chart two weeks before we can get anything going, I'd say yes, he's no. 1 on the depth chart."
What Fox is saying is that if Cutler struggles, he will not hesitate to put back in Jimmy Clausen. However, what if there was another option. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bears are still eyeing Marcus Mariota. Well-aware that he could go as high as No. 2, if he were to fall to No. 7 Chicago would draft him. Right now, the Bears are not certain they have a long-term option at the quarterback position on the roster. Cutler has not looked like that type of player over the past two years which is drawing some questions over whether or not the Bears should draft a player early.
Certainly there could be options that come up next offseason. Players like Philip Rivers, Sam Bradford, Robert Griffin III, Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins all have expiring contracts. If the Bears were to miss out on Mariota and deem the other rookies too risky, they could play it safe for one more season before picking another player up in free agency.
