Thursday, April 2, 2009

Jay Cutler traded to Bears — Chicago now Vanderbilt North


About an hour ago, Jay Cutler was traded to the Chicago Bears, one of the two teams he wanted to play for — the Titans were the other.

Brian Urlacher says he has no problem with Cutler. Hey, that's a start.

Jay will be reunited with Earl Bennett, his favorite target when he was a Commodore. Bennett was a freshman back then and eventually became the SEC's all-time leading receiver in only three seasons despite the fact that two of those seasons he was catching balls from Chris Nickson and Mackenzi Adams, neither one of whom will ever play in the NFL.

Other Chicago Bears who played at Vanderbilt are linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer, a seven-year pro, and Chris Williams, the first-rounder who was a rookie last season. Williams is listed as a left tackle but the Bears just picked up Orlando Pace, the legendary left tackle who was released by the Rams.

That makes four Commodores on the Vanderbilt roster. Maybe five if the Bears pick up D.J. Moore. That'd be cool, huh?

Anyway, Cutler is a blue-collar guy with an attitude, and like so many people have said, he's a team guy through and through. I think he'll get along fine with Lovie Smith, and Bears fans will consider him a vast upgrade over Kyle Orton, who's headed for the Broncos, and Rex Grossman.

It'll be interesting to see what Cutler's presence will do for Earl Bennett, who struggled in his rookie season and still hasn't caught a regular-season pass as a pro.

Cutler moves closer to home — he's from Santa Claus, Ind. — and he finally has a defense. And we don't have to hear everybody try to psychoanalyze him anymore. And we can see if Josh McDaniels in Denver really can work magic with quarterbacks.

Yep, we'll see.

2 comments:

1050 lb. said...

Wow. I remembered that Hillenmeyer was there, but I'd totally forgotten about Bennett and Williams. Wouldn't it be great if the Cutler-to-Bennett combination gives us some of that old Black and Gold magic?

DIMON KENDRICK-HOLMES said...

Yes, that would be great. Bennett, who was a true freshman during Cutler's last season, was Cutler's No. 1 — and really, only — target from almost the beginning. A lot of people say he did more to help Jay go in the first round than anybody else.