Bears QB Jay Cutler recently mentioned that he would have any issues if the team applied their franchise tag to him this offseason.
“I’m not gonna take anything personally,” Cutler said during the “Jay Cutler Show” on Monday, via ESPN.com. “If they want to franchise me, I’m gonna feel good about the situation we’re in.”
“We’re gonna be in our second year of the offense with these guys. We’re gonna be better. I’m gonna be better. So it’s not personal. It’s business.”
Cutler, 30, is in the final year of his contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent following the season. While there are concerns regarding Culer, it’s very rare for starting caliber quarterbacks to hit the open market, so he would most likely find plenty of interest.
Chicago would be looking at paying Cutler close to $16.2 million if they were to apply their franchise tag to him. The Bears have a number of free agents to address this offseason including DT Henry Melton and CB Charles Tillman, so it will be interesting to see what they do with Cutler as it should offer some clues with regards to their overall strategy.
“Everyone wants a long-term deal,” Cutler said. “It would be nice to get a long-term deal. But if it doesn’t work out …
“We’ve got a lot of guys that we’ve got to work through. We’ve got to figure out the direction of this team. So if they find it’s best just to franchise me and work out the other guys, then, like I said, I might miss a few OTAs. But I’ll be ready for training camp.”
We have Cutler currently listed as the No. 11 player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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