Cutler Dealt
On Thursday April 2, Jay Cutler was traded along with a 2009 5th round draft pick to the Chicago Bears for first and third round draft choices in 2009, a 1st round pick in 2010, and quarterback Kyle Orton. This is a move that should work out well for both teams. Looking at what the Bears gave up to get Cutler it would seem that they gave up too much, but keep in mind that the Bears haven't had great success with their high draft picks. The exceptions to that are Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris. In 2000 the Bears drafted Urlacher 9th overall, in 2001 they took David Terrell 8th overall (out of the league), in 2002 they drafted Marc Colombo 29th overall (released), in 2003 they took Michael Haynes 14th overall (out of the league) and Rex Grossman 22nd overall (bust), in 2004 they got Tommie Harris with the 14th pick and in 2005 took Cedric Benson 4th overall (released due to poor performance and off-the-field problems), they had no first round pick in 2006 and took Greg Olsen with the 31st pick and in 2008 took Chris Williams 14th overall. It's still too early to tell with Olsen and Williams whether they will turn out to be good picks but that's 2 out of 7 players that turned into actual players for the Bears. And before 2000 they took Cade McNown (bust), Curtis Enis (bust), Rashaan Salaam (bust), and John Thierry (bust!).
So I'm sick of hearing the Bears gave up too much to get a 25 year old Pro Bowl quarterback with a cannon arm and high intelligence. The Bears don't have history on their side with high picks and it's smart for them to use those picks on an established player who's probably worth at least 3 more wins for them.
Curious about who the Broncos have drafted in that same period? I was so I decided to look it up. Thought it would be interesting to see how the Broncos have fared in the draft. In 2000 with the 15th pick they took 2 time Pro Bowler Deltha O'Neal (one Pro Bowl was with Bengals), in 2001 they drafted Willie Middlebrooks (bust) 24th overall, in 2002 Ashley Lelie (bust) was taken 19th, in 2003 George Foster was taken with the 20th pick (traded for Dre Bly), they drafted DJ Williams in 2004 with the 17th pick, didn't have a first round pick in 2005, and got Jay Cutler in 2006 with the 11th pick. It's still too early to tell with 2007's 1st round pick, Jarvis Moss (17th), but 2008's pick looks like a future star at left tackle (Ryan Clady, 12th). That's 3 out of 6, slightly better than the Bears, but this is also a different regime. One of the reasons Mike Shanahan was fired was because he didn't do too well in the draft.
New Broncos coach Josh McDaniels comes from New England, which was 7 for 7 with their first round picks (not counting the last 2, who both look really good). And my favorite team, the Raiders, 1 for 9. No wonder they're so bad right now. It also doesn't help when the 16th pick is used on a kicker and a second overall pick is used on guard. Even the Lions did better than the Raiders, going 3 for 9 (I counted Calvin Johnson because he's already really good).
4/5/09
Jason Peters Also Traded
In a move to shore up their glaring need for a left tackle, the Philadelphia Eagles traded first, fourth and sixth round draft picks to the Buffalo Bills for Pro Bowler Jason Peters. The first, 28th overall, and fourth round picks are in this year's draft and the sixth round pick is in 2010's draft.
The Eagles lost long-time starter William Thomas in free agency and had already signed Stacy Andrews to take over the right tackle position from Jon Runyan. The Eagles still have the 20th overall selection and were expected to draft a tackle in the first round before the trade. They can now focus on drafting a playmaker on offense, possibly Knowshon Moreno of Georgia.
For the Bills, they have now lost the left side of their offensive line. They had already released left guard Derrick Dockery and now need to also find a new left tackle. They are in luck though. They now have the 28th pick to go along with the 11th they already had and can now draft a tackle with the higher pick and hope that tight end Brandon Pettigrew falls to them at 28. Or they can hope to repeat the success they had with Peters and sign an unrestricted free agent that ends up becoming one of the top tackles in the NFL.
4/24/09
