Despite prior assurances by Josh McDaniels that fences could somehow be mended with Jay Cutler, the miffed QB’s refusal to accept phone calls from his head coach appears to have worked to Cutler’s favor. To wit, his trade demand is about to be granted, as the Denver Post’s Mike Klis explains.
“Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by head coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful,” owner Pat Bowlen said in a statement. “A conversation with his agent (Bus Cook) earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos. We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded.”
Cutler heard about Bowlen’s statement Tuesday, but said by text, “I’m not talking about it.”
For now, the Broncos’ starting quarterback is Chris Simms, who has thrown just two passes since sustaining a ruptured spleen in the third game of the 2006 season, or nine games before Cutler replaced Jake Plummer as the Broncos’ starting quarterback.
An NFL source said the Washington Redskins are among the leading candidates to pull off a trade for Cutler. The Redskins have a proven young quarterback, Jason Campbell, and would meet the Broncos’ preference of dealing Cutler outside the American Football Conference. The Redskins also have the No. 13 overall selection in this year’s draft, one spot.