Trades we'd like to see: Bears send Jay Cutler to Redskins for Kirk Cousins, draft pick
As the NFL's trading deadline -- Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. ET -- approaches, we explore five explosive, albeit unlikely, possible deals.
Proposed trade No. 5:
Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler to Washington Redskins for quarterback Kirk Cousins and a third-round draft choice
Sure, Cousins is coming off the game of his young life.
In Week 7, Tampa Bay led 24-0 at Washington in the second quarter. But Washington roared back to win 31-30 when the fourth-year quarterback completed 33 of 40 passes for 317 yards to mount the greatest comeback in franchise history. Cousins, who had failed to complete more than one touchdown pass in any of the six previous games, threw three second-half scoring passes. He ran for a second-quarter TD, too.
Let's take advantage of Cousins' highest ceiling ever and send him to the Bears with a third-round pick for the perpetually dour and, some would say, underachieving Cutler.
With their ferocious defenses, the Bills and Jets would also seem to be in the market for a quarterback upgrade, but Cutler probably wouldn't work in the Rex Ryan vortex -- or in the Jets' locker room, where he'd be reunited with old friend Brandon Marshall. Chemistry? The word toxic comes to mind.
Actually, the Redskins tried to land Cutler in the spring of 2009, but he was eventually dealt from Denver to Chicago for Kyle Orton and two first-round picks and one third-rounder. Congratulations, Daniel Snyder, the former Vanderbilt Commodore has finally landed.
Things have gotten stale in Chi-town lately. After taking the Bears to an 11-5 record in 2010 and the NFC title game, it has been four seasons without a postseason game and, quite likely, a fifth. Cutler has always possessed breathtaking talent, but he has yet to be a consistent winner; the Bears are 33-37 since that sweet season five years ago. Cutler has produced 190 touchdown passes, 134 interceptions and nearly 30,000 yards in his career. This year he has been typically serviceable but would benefit from a change of culture.
The Bears' defense is so bad it's hard to justify paying and playing a quarterback of his magnitude.
The Redskins are 3-4 and, surprisingly, only one game out of first in the meager NFC East. Snyder has been relatively quiet over the past few years as the Robert Griffin III drama has played out in public. Providing he's healthy (which is one reason he isn't playing), the team won't have to pay him the $16 million his contract calls for in 2016.
Cutler's cap number this season, oddly enough, is $16.5 million, and the average figure for the remaining five years of his contract is about $18 million annually, although his guaranteed money runs out after next season.
The Redskins, with a middle-of-the-pack salary-cap cushion of $7.2 million, could make this work with some cooperation from Cutler.
Cousins enthusiasts, remember that one game against Tampa Bay does not a career make. Hey, at the very least this makes a lot more sense than when Washington signed Jeff George as a free agent in 2000.
