FanPost

What if Cutler takes a pay cut?

I wrote this awhile ago on one of the other posts, and i know most of the fans\media think he is gone, but what if Jay Cutler is willing to reduce his salary? Will that change your mind?

This is a thought that has no real base in reality but i think that if Pace and Cutler can reach a new "prove it" contract for 2 years with a lower salary we can only win from the situation and here is why:

1. Cutler is still worthy of an opening QB job.
If he stays healthy he can finally enjoy a good offensive line, a good RB who can take the load off of him, a solid defence and the same offensive coordinator for 2 years in a row. When did he had all of that in his career?

I know the "stays healthy" part seems tricky but i think most of the time he spent on the bench last year was more because of Fox and not him being really injured.

2. Pace can really go with BPA in the draft and FA.
Once we accept that Cutler is the QB there is no need to think about trading our number 1 pick for Garoppolo or pick Trubinsky or Watson with the 3rd pick.

We still pick a QB in the 3rd or 4th round like Peterman or Webb and hope for a Prescott-like scenario but we don't invest all of our resources in a weak QB draft\FA.

Next year should be a much better QB draft anyway. you can try and trade down this year and grab a few picks so you can trade up next year for our QB of the future. Another way to get draft picks is...

3. We raise his trade stock.
Right now Cutler is set to have the 19th highest salary for a QB in 2017. If he takes a 2 milion $ cut he is the 22nd highest paid QB. In that situation the only starting QB to get less then him, and is not on a rookie contract, will be RG3.
That means that in case some team has a "Teddy Bridgewater" like injury Cutler will be very sought after as a plug in veteran QB with that kind of salary and the Bears can get a king's(prince?) ransom sort of like what the Eagles got.

Even if that is not the case he will still be more tradable in case a team is looking for a QB.

4. Pace, Fox and Loggains know Cutler.
A new QB means you need to teach him and learn who he is. It's a process that takes time that none of the people mentioned above have plenty of it and i really don't think Hoyer, Barkely or Shaw are the answer.

In Fox's first year Cutler had a good season because Fox and Gase limited his mistakes by not taking too many risks.
They just need to go back to that thought process. With Howard as RB it should be even easier then it was with an aging Forte.

There is a part of me as well that just wants to say 'stop'. A part that screamed during the Tampa meltdown "I want off the train!" and maybe there is just too much baggage in chicago for Cutler to succeed.

At the moment i won't mind either way. I have learned to live with Cutler's pros and cons as a QB if he stays and also understand why Pace would cut him.

It's that optimistic side of me that thinks maybe this is the situation we waited for. Next year everything will finally click and we will begin our rise back to the top.

What do you guys think?

This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.