Cutler

[steel827 2]

So Manning is going to be out for some time. I rolled the dice in the 5th round and came up cr@ps. I picked up Cutler as my backup and should have taken a better QB earlier, but did not. Any upside with him? Hoping he takes his critisism from last year as motivation and comes out strong. He'll toss lots of picks, but I'm hoping that his second year under Martz will be more consistent than the first.

[montana 89]

Depends on scoring. If its 6pts TDs with -1 for INTs, I could live with Cutler.

If its 4pts with -1 INTs I may look elsewhere. He killed me last year & personally don't see much better #s this year.

Who's available on WW?

[SuperSteelers 1]

I don't think Cutler was that bad last year and think he can replicate that performance this year. Yeah he throws a lot of INT, but he still can sling it around a bit. I have no issues with you taking Cutler in the 5th round.

[illini9825 7]

Yeah Cutler gets the penalty for picks but you have to look at the causes:

 

1) Being sacked 50+ times caused him to rush throws even when he didn't need to

2) His receivers constantly ran poor routes and could not fight off physical corners for position

3) His favorite target was Greg Olsen and Cutler forced the ball to him constantly

 

While the line seems to have improved, we'll find out the first game. I think they will be better this year but it will take some time. Johnny Knox looks to have stepped up his game but that's about it. Earl Bennett will emerge as the leasding receiver. He runs good routes and will go over the middle. Cutler has improved his footwork and is in overall much better shape.

 

I think he took the offseason very seriously and was bothered by all the criticism. I look for him to have a better year with less picks than last year. Martz looks like he is going to have this offense throw the ball all over the place.

[steel827 2]

Not much out there. Fitzpatrick, Sanchez, Henne .... We are 6 pts per td and -2 for ints. I got Cutler in the 12th round, but I am kicking myself because I took Lance Moore in the 9th and could have had Stafford. Was going back and forth and thought that Manning might be out, at the most, only 1 week so I went for the positional player. We had our draft last Tuesday so these are the problems with an early draft. We do a live draft so it can be tough getting everybody coordinated. Plus, most of us has been without power for close to a week.

[ggroovy17 0]

I have the same situation with Manning and have Cutler as a backup. We do not have negative points for interceptions, so I think I can live with Cutler for the first 3-4 weeks if needed. Here are the first 4 games for Cutler:

 

1 Sun Sep 11 1:00 pm Atlanta Falcons

2 Sun Sep 18 1:00 pm at New Orleans Saints

3 Sun Sep 25 4:15 pm Green Bay Packers

4 Sun Oct 2 1:00 pm Carolina Panthers

 

The first 3 games all have the potential to be shootouts.....or even if the Bears get behind they will have to pass the ball.

[vegassandwich227 0]

With 2 pts for INT's, I hate Cutler. If I were you, I'd do what I could to trade for a better QB...

[montana 89]

With 2 pts for INT's, I hate Cutler. If I were you, I'd do what I could to trade for a better QB...

Amen

[MTSkiBum 1,605]

Last year the chicago bears were 31rst in passing attempts in the league. It would be crazy to expect a mike martz led offense to be that low in passing attempts 2 years in a row.

 

Cutler had 432 attempts.

 

570 attempts would be the 7th most attempts in the league last year, and would be realistic for cutler this upcoming year.

 

That would put his yardage at 4300 and his TD's at 30.

 

 

 

Cutler has finished as a top 3 QB before, and he has the potential to again. He has a gunslinger mentality, all he needs to do to hit those numbers again is to have a coordinator that calls more passes.

[Axe Elf 0]

That would put his yardage at 4300 and his TD's at 30.

 

 

And his INTs at 79.

[montana 89]

And his INTs at 79.

THIS ^

[MTSkiBum 1,605]

THIS ^

 

Yes Cutler has a repuation for throwing alot of picks, but in reality cutler has only had 1 season where he had an unreasonable amount of interceptions.

 

http://www.nfl.com/player/jaycutler/2495824/profile

 

Most of the seasons, cutler has been down in the 15-18 int range.

 

 

 

For comparison look at Brees' stats. Most of his career he is in the 15-18 range as well.

 

http://www.nfl.com/player/drewbrees/2504775/profile

[vegassandwich227 0]

just know that every 3-4 weeks, he WILL put up single digits for you.

[Axe Elf 0]

I dunno, a career ratio of 100 TDs to 80 INTs (5:4) is pretty unreasonable to me. Favre was more like 5:3 for his career, and he was kinda known for INTs himself. The Brees stats posted show him to be closer to 2:1--much more reasonable.

[MTSkiBum 1,605]

I dunno, a career ratio of 100 TDs to 80 INTs (5:4) is pretty unreasonable to me. Favre was more like 5:3 for his career, and he was kinda known for INTs himself. The Brees stats posted show him to be closer to 2:1--much more reasonable.

 

Cutler has a smaller sample size to work with, one bad season has a larger effect on his career stats.

 

Favre is a good comparison. The amount of INT's that favre through were not enough to effect his fantasy stats.

 

 

 

Cutlers upside

 

4600 yards

25 td's

18 INT's

200 rushing yards

2 rushing td's

 

 

Those were cutlers 2008 when he was the #3 fantasy QB.

 

http://www.fftoday.com/stats/playerstats.php?Season=2008&GameWeek=&PosID=10

[Boilermaker04 11]

Cutler isn't the worst thing that can happen to your team, but I'd rather reach for Ryan or Ben in the 5th than Cutler. I'd even roll the dice on Stafford before Cutler.

[Lay the Mallett Down 0]

He didn't pick Cutler in the 5th. He picked Manning in the 5th.

[The Coach 0]

Didn't they lose one of their best lineman to New Orleans??

[Huh? 7]

Last year Cutler was my starter for most of the season, and I was fine. This year I'm rolling with him as my only QB. If he can at least equal last season, I should be in good shape. There will be weeks where he scores 35 and weeks where he scores 3.5.

[Axe Elf 0]

There will be weeks where he scores 35 and weeks where he scores 3.5.

 

 

And weeks where he scores 10... for your opponent.

[Jedi Sensei 17]

Garza is not a big step-down from Kruetz at this point in his career, but that brings up the real problem in Chicago: that o-line is plain offensive.

 

As a Bears fan (and Manning/Cutler owner) I watched all their preseason games and that line looks as bad as last year, or worse. Cutler was repeatedly getting flushed out, hit or hurried. And this was preseason game-planning, vanilla defenses. And they play the Lions twice; Tice would have to be considered a genius if he can scheme a way to stop Suh & Fairley with that o-line.

 

On the positive side, even with all the abuse they took they looked like they were starting to gel and still didn't give up a sack on Cutler. This is partly because I saw Cutler make quick throws, smart decisions. He looks to be way more comfortable in Martz' scheme, and Martz was calling-up less 5- or 7-step drops. Facing the kind of pressure he'll have to live with this year, Cutler usually made the right read and hit the right guy.

 

Which brings up the other real problem in Chicago: they're not starting the right guys at WR. Bennett & Knox should be starting, not Roy & Hester. They're just plain better -- Roy runs sluggishly and can't catch a taxi; Hester runs tentatively and Chicago endlessly tries (and fails) that stupid bubble screen with him (they just need to take that play out of the book, seriously). That said, Forte may end up leading the team in receptions; he's looking every bit the Marshall Faulk role in that offense.

 

I don't expect Cutler to start out the season on fire, but he could be great in the 2nd half.