Jason La Canfora of CBS Sportreports that the Chicago Bears and QB Jay Cutler are taking a “wait and see approach” regarding a new contract.
- La Canfora adds that there have been no contract talks up to this point, despite the fact that Cutler has played great in Marc Trestman’s new offense.
- Cutler is reportedly open to in-season negotiations, but the Bears appear to be willing to table any talks until the offseason.
- La Canfora mentions that Chicago will most likely apply their franchise tag to Cutler if a deal hasn’t been reached before the deadline.
- A non-exclusive franchise tag amount would run the Bears close to $16.2 million.
La Canfora tosses in one other interesting note regarding DE Julius Peppers.
“…Aging pass rusher Julius Peppers is set to make $14M and count $17.2M against the cap. The Bears could conceivably release him, taking a $6.4M cap hit (they traditionally have abundant cap space) and use that money to pay Cutler.”
Cutler would almost certainly be in high demand if he were to be available on the open market. This, of course, is a highly unlikely scenario. Cutler could be targeting similar contracts to that of Tony Romo (seven-years, $119.5 million total, $55 million guaranteed) and Matthew Stafford (five-years, $76.5 million total, $41.5 million guaranteed).
We have Cutler listed as the No. 5 player in our Top 50 – 2014 NFL Free Agents list.
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