Roman Modrowski of ESPN, citing a league source, reports that former Bears QB Jay Cutler is still contemplating retirement from the NFL, as a market for him has yet to develop since he was released by Chicago.
Last week, Ian Rapoport reported that the market for Cutler is almost non-existent right now.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with general managers or head coaches talking about where these quarterbacks are going to land and it is unbelievable that Cutler’s name rarely, if ever, comes up,” Rapoport said, via NFL.com.
Rapoport explained that there are only a few starting jobs available at this point, but neither appear to be options for Cutler at this point in time. According to Rapoport, Cutler has spoken to some about the possibility of retiring, depending on how things go in the coming months.
“There’s really only a couple starting quarterback spots that are even available,” Rapoport said. “The Browns would be one. I doesn’t seem like Cutler would be interested in going there. The Texans would be another. It doesn’t seem they have interest in him. So Cutler may face a similar situation, actually, to Tony Romo, which is to just chill, wait, and if something happens — some horrible camp injury, like what happened to Teddy Bridgewater last year — maybe Cutler’s name would be called. But I do know he’s talked to people that he knows pretty well about retirement being a possibility. He actually might have no choice.”
The Jets appeared to be Cutler’s best option this offseason, but they elected to sign Josh McCown instead and didn’t even bring Cutler for a visit before doing so.
While the Texans missed out on Tony Romo, it’s clear that they plan to move forward with Tom Savage and probably draft a quarterback prospect in the coming weeks.
Cutler is, arguably, the best available options at the quarterback position right now, which speaks to how limited the pool of free agents is at the position.
Cutler, 33, is a former first-round pick of the Broncos back in 2006. He spent three years in Denver before he was traded to the Bears in 2009. He was in the fourth year of his seven-year, $126.7 million contract that included $54 million guaranteed when the Bears cut him loose at the start of the 2017 league year.
In 2016, Cutler appeared in five games and throw for 1,059 yards while completing 59.1 percent of his passes to go along with four touchdowns and five interceptions.
We have him featured in our Top 50 Available Free Agents list.
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