Cutler to Bears, Orton to Broncos

by | Apr 2, 2009 | Fantasy Football

ESPN.com is reporting that the Chicago Bears have traded their first round picks in 2009 and 2010 along with Kyle Orton to Denver to acquire Jay Cutler.

Initial reaction: Though he’s more of a prima donna off the field than Orton, Cutler is an upgrade on the field. It will be interesting to see what the Bears lack of talent at wide receiver – Devin Hester and … Rashied Davis (?) I think would be the starters right now. But Cutler will have the benefit of Matt Forte at running back. By the end of last season the Broncos were splitting time in the backfield between an Arena League reject and the guy that cleans the toilets.

The Bears also have tight ends Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen, both of whom are decent in the passing game.

It blew me away that the Minnesota Vikings, who would seem to be improved quarterback play away from being a true Super Bowl contender, didn’t put more of an effort into trading for Cutler – and this is part of the reason why. The NFC North just got more interesting – Cutler definitely improves the offense of a team that is two years removed from the Super Bowl and missed winning the division by a game in 2008.

For the Broncos, this is a setback. It would seem as though Chris Simms and Orton would compete for the quarterback position. Neither are horrible, but neither are as good as Cutler, who threw for 4,200 yards and 25 touchdowns last season.

I suspect this also negatively affects wideouts Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, especially if Denver doesn’t get improved running back play from at least one of the backs that was hurt most of the 2008 season.

Overall, my initial thoughts are that the fantasy player that benefits the most from this is Forte, as Cutler will maximize the passing game in Chicago enough to open some lanes for the running game. Beyond that, I think the trade does more to hurt the skill players surrounding each team’s new quarterback than to help.

We’ll have more thoughts on this going forward as more details emerge. Thanks to Brad for bringing it to our attention.

ADD: Foxsports.com is reporting that the Bears get the Broncos 5th as well as Cutler this year, while the Broncos get a 3rd this year in addition to the two 1sts and Orton.

Singletary takes strange issue with Stafford

by | Apr 1, 2009 | NFL Draft, NFL Random Thoughts

It was impossible to not admire Mike Singletary when watching him patrol the middle of Chicago’s defense while I was growing up.

The constant camera shots of his wide eyes eventually got a bit nauseating, but the passion with which he played the game was impressive.

But his statements and actions since he ascended to the head coaching position in San Francisco have been nothing short of bizarre.

At first it was a little bit refreshing. When he banished underachieving tight end Vernon Davis to the locker room during his first game as the head man it seemed as though football had found a coach that could keep today’s highly-paid players in line. His postgame speech might have raised an eyebrow or two – he hit the issue and lashed out at Davis a little more than one might have expected him to, but it seemed as though he was making a point.

Then it came out that he mooned his team as part of an inspirational halftime talk. Hmm. Okay. Weird … but he’s just developing as a coach.

Now he’s virtually written Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford off of his draft list because Stafford reportedly didn’t want to go into detailed discussions about the divorce of his parents?

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Cutler and Shanahan to Washington?

by | Apr 1, 2009 | NFL Random Thoughts, NFL Rumors

After 10 days of stomping his feet, holding his breath and not returning phone calls Jay Cutler finally got his way. Denver owner Pat Bowlen announced Tuesday that he’d try to accommodate his spoiled quarterback’s desire to be traded.

The snot-nosed quarterback apparently decided again to not return phone calls or text messages from Bowlen and coach Josh McDaniels.

Roughly one-quarter of the league has reportedly been linked to the brat, err, Cutler talks. Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, visiting the Dan Patrick Show, said his best guesses for Cutler’s destination would be the New York Jets and then the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco (assuming Cutler doesn’t have issues with Matt Stafford’s parents getting divorced), Cleveland, and Jacksonville were also mentioned by Yahoo Sports and other outlets.

The rumor I like best so far? Cutler to Washington with former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan to follow, possibly next season.

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Colts running backs break handcuff rules

by | Mar 27, 2009 | Fantasy Football

The Indianapolis Colts waived running back Clifton Dawson this week leaving the team with just four backs to tote the rock this fall: Joseph Addai, Chad Simpson, Lance Ball and Mike Hart, the promising Michigan back coming back from a torn ACL.

In all likelihood the Colts will rectify that situation by picking up someone in the draft or re-signing free agent Dominic Rhodes. If they don’t, some recommend keeping an eye on Simpson or Ball and moving them up your list of potential handcuffs for the 2009 season.

I disagree.

If you pick Joseph Addai in your fantasy drafts you need to hope his injury issues from 2008 don’t repeat themselves or you need to prepare yourself with a backup that is worthy of playing time in the NFL and in fantasy leagues.

There are 32 teams in the NFL and conservatively two-thirds of them use running back by committee. That should leave roughly 50 feasible running backs – in leagues with 10 or 12 teams it’d take a heckuva lot of problems before you have to reach for guys like Ball and/or Simpson.

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