Why Jay Cutler ended up with the Miami Dolphins
Jay Cutler's retirement lasted barely three months.
The 34-year-old Cutler, who spent the past eight seasons as the Bears' quarterback, has agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal with the Miami Dolphins, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Cutler will replace injured Dolphins starter Ryan Tannehill, who suffered a left knee injury that could require surgery and be season-ending.
The deal also includes an additional $3 million in incentives.
Cutler had been hired by Fox Sports as a football analyst in the off-season, but instead he will be reunited with Dolphins head coach Adam Gase.
With Gase as the Bears' offensive coordinator in 2015, Cutler enjoyed the best statistical season of his 11-year career, throwing 21 TD pass and 11 interceptions with a 92.3 passer rating. He completed 64.4 percent of his passes.
Last season, Cutler played in just five games because of thumb and shoulder injuries and went 1-4 as a starter with a 78.1 passer rating. His final record as a Bears starter was 51-51.
The torn labrum in his (right) throwing shoulder landed him on injured reserve on Dec. 5 after he had missed two games with the injury.
Bears guard Kyle Long, who blocked for Cutler for four years, was asked last week about the quarterback's possible return.
“It's always fun,” Long said. “Obviously, knowing Jay for a while, I completely thought he was on full Montana mode, just chilling with his wife and kids. But nothing would surprise me. Obviously being with Gase here and having relative success and a good relationship there, you never know. I don't know anything about it. I just read about it today and thought it was pretty funny as well.”
Gase was considered a hot head-coaching candidate when he was hired as the Bears' offensive coordinator before the 2015 season. Cutler seemed to work better with Gase than he had with any of the five other offensive coordinators he worked with as a Bear. But, after one season in Chicago, he was hired by the Dolphins as their head coach.
“I just think ‘Goose' does a great job of talking to the guys on his team,” Long said of Gase. “Having that open-door policy — you can walk in his office and talk about anything — you don't feel like there's any barrier up with him. But especially as it pertains to Jay, I'd say that he and Goose get along really well.”
Bears coach John Fox was asked about a possible Cutler return last week and said: “I laugh, not that it's out of the blue. I'm not even sure what's going on down there. It doesn't surprise me there's rumblings about anything.”
Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said: “Jay Cutler is extremely talented. He could do whatever he wanted to do.”
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