Report: Jets Had "Real Discussions" With Jay Cutler

Earlier today it was reported that former Broncos and Bears QB Jay Cutler has signed on with Fox as a football analyst, so look for him to be calling some games at a stadium near you this Fall.

However before he became the 2nd coming of Troy Aikman, he was in serious discussions to become the Jets starting QB, according to Adam Schefter:

Jay Cutler speaking to the Jets isn't really news to us. We heard during the off-season that the Jets had interest and there were some reports that Cutler had an interest in the Jets as well, including this article by Kevin Patra of NFL.com.

We considered it to be due diligence. The Jets had a big need at the QB position and here was a recently cut player with 11 years worth of experience. Although he was coming off an injury-ridden campaign in 2016, he had thrown over 20 TD's in both 2014 and 2015.

Personally, I thought the Jets were going to sign Cutler, it was the Jet thing to do. If you believe what Schefter said above, we came a lot closer to signing Cutler than was originally thought.

So why didn't the two sides come to an agreement on a contract? Well that hasn't been reported, but you have to imagine it came down to salary. The Jets ended up giving McCown $4 million more than any other team was willing to offer, but that contract was a one year deal, which fits into what we perceive to be the Jets long term plans.

When you sign a QB like Cutler, with the experience he has, it's very hard to place him into an open competition with a QB like Petty who has struggled in his limited time as an NFL QB and Christian Hackenberg, who's yet to take the field. You also have to imagine that Cutler would want more than the $6 million that McCown signed on for, and likely wanted a longer commitment. I think it's obvious the Jets are in a re-build period, and committing to a veteran for more than a single year would be a mistake in my opinion.