Cutler May Not Be Worth What Bucs Would Have To Spend

The stuff with Jay Cutler sounds more and more to me like a petulant kid who got his feelings hurt and has gone into full-pout mode. Since sending him to his room without any supper probably won't work, the Denver Broncos may well have to trade him.

That seems a little more likely every day, actually, so the logic follows that if Cutler is out there to be had, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have to be interested.

Wait a minute - they already were.

They were inventive, too. The Bucs were involved in a three-way deal that would have sent Matt Cassel from New England to Denver, Cutler to the Bucs, and draft picks from the Bucs to New England. When that fell apart, Cassel wound up in Kansas City and the Broncos were stuck with a seriously honked-off quarterback.

Now, there is an opportunity here - if the Bucs still want to pursue it. However, there are some red flags here.

Cutler is a young, seriously talented quarterback with big-game experience, but he hasn't exactly distinguished himself in the last few weeks. You can be initially upset that your team tried to trade you, but at some point you have to take your thumb out of your mouth and get over it.

Repeat after me: The NFL is a business!

If Cutler is acting like this now, who can say for sure how'd he be here?

Trade Could Be Costly

Now, there could be more to this than we know. Maybe Cutler and Josh McDaniels, Denver's new head coach, just don't hit it off. Presumably McDaniels knew who the quarterback was before he took the job, and for all we know he decided back then that he needed another man.

Fair enough.

Cutler has had a couple of meetings with McDaniels. Maybe he has figured out that he isn't wanted in Denver. At this point, though, Cutler represents Denver's best chance to win.

The Broncos currently have only Chris Simms and Darrell Hackney in back of Cutler. It's doubtful that dangling Luke McCown in a potential deal would interest Denver much, and the Bucs don't really have many other options by themselves. They'd need to find another dance partner, like they thought they had with New England - someone who could ship the Broncos an acceptable quarterback.

That won't be easy.

Even if the Bucs decide Cutler is their man and can overcome all those obstacles, there is a question of how much they'd be willing to offer in trade. They've already traded this year's second-round pick and next year's fifth-round selection to Cleveland for Kellen Winslow,

Would a first-round draft choice be enough? Would they have to throw in a starter as well?

At that point, I'd push away from the table. I agree that a franchise quarterback is worth pretty much whatever you have to pay, but I'm just not convinced Cutler is that guy. Even if they could get him.

Would Be An Upgrade

You know the stats. Cutler is 17-20 a starter, including three losses down the stretch as Denver missed the playoffs. Not very exciting.

But we also know the talent. It's easy to fall in love with the 4,526 yards and 25 touchdowns he had last year, but this is a bottom-line league.

In this case, the bottom line is that Denver had the same view of last season's playoffs as the Bucs.

Cutler is interesting, to be sure, but given the way he has handled this it's not automatic to me that the Bucs mortgage the future to acquire him - even if it was possible to do so.

Would he be an upgrade over Luke McCown?

Obviously.

Should the Bucs pursue this?

Of course.

But should they be wary?

They'd better be.