Talky, But Can He Walky?

If someone asked you to make a list of the 10 most verbose and controversial NFL players, chances are that list would include Terrell Owens, Kellen Winslow, Chad Ochocinco, and Randy Moss. All guys are marked by a insouciant attitude towards their reputations and a desperate need for attention.

It's time to make room for one more guy by the name of Jay Cutler.

Cutler already threw a big enough fit to get himself traded out of Denver; a feat rarely (if ever) seen for a young, franchise-caliber quarterback. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that new Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels rubbed him the wrong way. Now though, Cutler is starting fires he doesn't need to light.

Cutler told a radio show that the big difference between Chicago and Denver is that the fans are more passionate in Chi-town. Cutler ranked the Bears fans as a nine while saying the Broncos fans are only a six.

I'll never get on a player for speaking his mind (it's less boring that way), but does Cutler really need to drag the Denver fans into the Cutler vs. Broncos scrum? I'm sure Chicago fans are great and Cutler is happy to get in good with them, but I've never heard a bad thing about Broncos fans. He's not talking about the laid back California fan.

Now the August 30th pre-season match-up between the Bears and Broncos in Denver seems like a must see game just to hear the choice words the Broncos fans will have for their former quarterback. I already heard my girlfriend, a Colorado native, give a profanity-laced salute to Cutler this morning.

One thing will be certain, the Broncos fans passion meter will probably go to 11 that night.

Soooo About That Whole Trade Thing.....

The Washington Redskins brass met with Jason Campbell yesterday to see if everything was cool with the quarterback after the Jay Cutler saga.

Redskins vice president of operations Vinnie Cerrato said "We met with Jason today and had a candid discussion. We told Jason that when Jay Cutler became available, we, like many other NFL teams, spoke with the Broncos. We are all on the same page, and we are moving forward."

I'm pretty sure Jason Campbell already knew the Redskins had spoken to the Broncos. There were rumors flying everywhere that the Redskins were close to a deal for the quarterback. In fact, the Bears apparently stepped in at the last minute to outbid the Redskins.

Now Redskins management is trying to make it sound they simply inquired about the trade. Sure. And the drunk dude at the bar is simply inquiring about sleeping with the hot girl standing next to him.

The Redskins would have done the trade in a heartbeat had the Broncos wanted it. Vinnie Cerrato knows it, Jason Campbell knows it, and despite the attempt at downplay, every NFL fan knows it. We aren't flummoxed by Cerrato's words like slack-jawed bystanders in 'Men in Black'.

Now the team is stuck with a quarterback who knows they don't want him and are being accused of tampering during the signing of their $100 millions free agent defensive tackle.

That ought to be a fun locker room next year. A group of mercenaries brought in by the ultimate mercenary in owner Daniel Snyder. He has proven that he will get rid of anyone at anytime if he finds something he likes better. Some fans may enjoy this since he will definitely spend the money to get the big named player.

Then again, the Redskins have only made the playoffs a couple of times in the decade since Danny War Bucks bought the team and have never had any sustained success. Meanwhile, Snyder goes through coaches and players like a puppy goes through dinner scraps.

Maybe if the Redskins tried to actually grow a locker room scene instead of constantly turning over the team, the Redskins would have more success.

But that's not the way Snyder does business. So Washington enters next season with a nearly discarded quarterback leading an offense designed by a coach who everyone assumes will be gone as soon as Bill Cowher decides to return to football.

Good times at Fed Ex field.

I Salute Thou And Thy Balls

Wow, what a good decision that was to not post about the Jay Cutler situation yesterday...

Now that the longueur between Cutler and the Broncos is officially over he's headed to Chicago, every sportswriter and blogger needs to weigh in on the trade.

Who got the better of it?

Is Cutler mature enough to lead a team?

Did the Broncos just let their future leave?

Did the Bears just become contenders?

How does John Elway feel about this? Okay, that one is stupid, but he did decide to weigh in on the whole Cutler situation. And when Elway speaks, Denver listens.

Everyone is re-hashing this trade and for good reason. It's one the biggest trades in NFL history and THE biggest trade involving a QB.

The only thing close to it is Steve Young to the 49ers and by the time he was traded, Young was considered a possible bust. Young got to sit and learn for four years before finally turning into a Hall of Famer.

Yes, Brett Favre to Green Bay was a big trade too, but go back to 1991. Did anyone care one bit about Favre being traded? He didn't even start in Atlanta. This is only a big trade in hindsight because of Favre's success.

Every other major QB trade has to do with an aging veteran being shipped to a team who tries one last gasp run at a Super Bowl title before they have to rebuild (See Joe Montana, Brett Favre to Jets, Warren Moon, etc. etc.)

But not this one. This is the trading of a young, established, Pro-Bowl quarterback that was supposed to lead the Broncos to glory. Now he's in Chicago and three high draft choices are in Denver along with the doughy and bearded Kyle Orton.

It will drastically change the future of both franchises. We have no idea if it will be for better or for worse, but the future has changed.

And I say WELL DONE to both sides for pulling off such a huge trade.

Sure, the Broncos have a lot of questions to answer now that they let the face of the franchise leave in his prime, but did anyone give the Broncos a real chance next year? Did anyone give the Bears a chance?

No!

The Broncos were going to be a good offensive team that could win games if the defense held opponents under three touchdowns. This was a big if.

The Bears were a solid team with a running game and decent defense, but zero passing game.

Now both teams will be different. Maybe not better, but different. And I'm interested.

Give me the Bears and Broncos early in the season because I want to see what happens. Chicago has gone from boring and predictable into uncharted territory. They have a quarterback!

The Broncos have just turned into draft darlings because everyone wants to see what they're going to do with the team now that they have extra draft picks and are down a Pro-Bowl leader.

So before we argue over who won this trade and which general manager will go down in infamy, let us sit back and take this event in as an NFL fan. In a league where most franchise heads are ultra-conservative and afraid that any sort of major move will backfire on them, we got to witness a league changing trade.

Enjoy it now. These trades don't come around very often. And the NFL is better off for it.

Long live the big trade!

Unhappily Ever After

What the hell is going on in the family of professional sports teams? There seems to be an uptick in dysfunctional relationships between team stars and coaching/management.

It started with Jay Cutler versus Josh McDaniels, now Hanley Ramirez is rebelling against a new dress code imposed by the Florida Marlins. Ramirez was not happy with what he considered a feckless new dress code forcing him to cut his hair and remove his jewelry while playing, so he scrawled "I'm sick of this sh*t" across his chest in marker and demanded a trade.

Players battling management is nothing new, but it's the tone of these recent arguments that makes them so odd. It almost sounds like an unhappy teenager fighting with their parents as both sides battle for control in the household.

In Denver......

CUTLER: "Were you trying to send me to boarding school, Dad?"

MCDANIELS: "A border school called us asking us about it, so we listened to them. But don't worry, we aren't going to do it. It's too expensive."

CUTLER: "But you were listening to them! I knew you didn't want me here! You guys don't love me anymore!"

MCDANIELS: "Of course we love you. We were just listening to what they had to say. We weren't even close to sending you."

CUTLER: "Yes you were! You probably just don't want to let me drive the car! Well, I don't want to live here anymore! I'm going to live with grandma!"

MCDANIELS: "Son, just calm down."

CUTLER: "No, I'll go live with Steve! At least his parents like me!"


Meanwhile, in Miami.......

FREDIE GONZALEZ (Marlins Manager): "Hanley, what is that you're wearing?"

RAMIREZ: "It's a necklace."

GONZALEZ: "That's not a necklace, that's a rope made out of gold with a pendant the size of your chest. And look at your pants, they're halfway down your legs!"

RAMIREZ: "That's the look, Dad. I'm in style!"

GONZALEZ: "Style? You look like a homeless man Hanley. And what are you doing with your hair? You look like you haven't visited a barber in a year. Go clean up."

RAMIREZ: "This is how I want to look! All of my friends are doing it too!"

GONZALEZ: "I don't care what your friends are doing. I raised you better than that. Go pull your pants up, take that ridiculous necklace off, and please get a haircut."

RAMIREZ: "No way! Do you want me to be a social outcast? Will that make you happy? Why are you ruining my social life?"

GONZALEZ: "I want you to look like you grew up in a proper family, not with a bunch of hippies. Now go change."

RAMIREZ: "I hate you! Why can't you let me be me? I'm not you, Dad!"

Then maybe Gonzalez finds pot in Hanley's room and asks where he learned how to smoke pot. Hanley yells "I learned it from you, dad!" And then Gonzalez looks guilty.

The Ramirez situation seems to be cooling down and maybe the Cutler one will too someday. But these organizational fights are sounding more and more like domestic disputes. Maybe one day soon a coach will take off his belt and spank the star. That will be a fun news day.

Mile High 80122

Wow, Dallas owner Jerry Jones must be pissed. Despite his desperate attempts to make the Cowboys the running soap opera of every NFL off-season, it seems that his team is getting some big time competition from mountain country.

Maybe new Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels loves him some drama, or maybe doing things the Patriot way means shaking up an organization and pissing off as many players who aren't consider 'your' players as possible.

The Broncos looked to be free-agency winners when the team lured Brian Dawkins away from the Philadelphia Eagles over the weekend. Dawkins won't be in the NFL much longer, but he's a team leader and could teach the young Broncos defenders how to behave in the NFL. Judging by the reaction in Philadelphia, the Broncos got a real bargain.

And then the Bronco wagon split down the middle and all of the wheels came shooting off.

I don't know if McDaniels hasn't liked the film he's seen on Jay Cutler, really thinks Matt Cassel is destined for greatness, or if he's just an idiot. I do know that it's probably not a good idea to inquire about trading your young franchise quarterback the first chance you get unless you actually go through with the trade. Now that Cassel is with the division rival Chiefs, this storyline can be relived over and over and over again. Yeah!

At the very least, Cutler isn't going to feel completely secure in Denver for a while. If Cutler's initial comments are any indication, this thing is going to fester and cause some locker room problems. Culter isn't being very sanguine about his relationship with the new look Broncos.

But hey, it's okay, they signed Brian Dawkins to help smooth the locker room over!

Getting your quarterback back on board is enough to fill in the off-season to do list, but now there's another pressing need: get a lobotomy for your top receiver.

To say Brandon Marshall uses poor judgment is like saying Octo-mom likes kids. He's an idiot of the highest order that you only find in the ranks of wide receivers and defensive backs. Now he's in trouble again.
The good news: the recent case against him for disorderly conduct has been dismissed by the courts.
The bad news: the NFL doesn't need a conviction in court to dole out punishment of it's own.

(ATTENTION NFL COACHES and OWNERS: Atlanta night clubs are bad places for NFL players to hang out in. Bad things tend to happen here.)

So the Broncos now go into the 2009 draft with a franchise quarterback who was already unhappy with a coaching change and is now more than likely unsure if he wants to be a Bronco anymore, plus a top receiver who has police records in three states that includes multiple domestic disturbances, disorderly conduct, and a random arm injury that Marshall swears was just from roughhousing (because we've all put our fist through an entertainment center when we were messing around.)

Can Brian Dawkins play offense too?