Background and career
Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. A member of the Chicago Bears for most of his career, he is the franchise leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, attempts, and completions. Cutler played college football for the Vanderbilt Commodores, winning SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2005. He was selected by the Denver Broncos in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft. During his three seasons with the Broncos, he earned Pro Bowl honors in 2008. The following year, Cutler was traded to the Bears, where he played eight seasons. His most successful season was in 2010 when he led the Bears to a division title and NFC Championship Game appearance. After being released by Chicago, Cutler spent his final year with the Miami Dolphins. He was named among the 100 greatest Bears of all-time in 2019.
Cutler was born in Santa Claus, Indiana, in 1983. Cutler attended Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Indiana. He started three years as a quarterback for the Patriots football team, amassing a combined 26–1 record in his junior and senior years, including a perfect 15–0 during his senior year. Cutler and his team outscored opponents 746–85, including a 90–0 shutout at Pike Central. During his senior year, Cutler connected on 122 of 202 passes (60.4%) for 2,252 yards with 31 touchdowns, while rushing 65 times for 493 yards with 11 touchdowns. He also started at safety for three years, intercepting nine passes as a senior, 12th overall in the state. His team's perfect record during his senior year included the school's first 3A state championship, where Heritage Hills beat Zionsville in overtime, 27–24. The most notable play of the game occurred when Cutler lateraled the ball to the halfback, Cole Seifrig, who then passed it to Cutler who ran it into the end zone. Cutler also played strong safety in the state championship and made 19 tackles. Cutler was named a first-team All-State selection by the Associated Press as a senior. In addition to playing football in high school, he was a first-team all-state selection in basketball, scoring 1,131 points; he co-holds the school record for FGs made (16) in a game and garnered honorable mention all-state accolades as a shortstop in baseball. Cutler grew up as a Chicago Bears fan during his youth in Indiana.
Cutler attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He redshirted in his 2001 freshman season and subsequently started all 45 career games that he played for the Commodores, the most starts by a quarterback in school history. He did not miss a game in college due to injury. The Commodores were 11–34 during his tenure, including going 5–27 versus the SEC. In 2002, Cutler set the school record for touchdowns and rushing yards by a freshman and rushed for more yards than any other Southeastern Conference quarterback that year. The Associated Press honored him with a first team freshman All-SEC selection. In 2004, as a junior, Cutler completed 61.0 percent of his passes, setting a school record, while throwing for 1,844 yards with 10 touchdowns and a career-low five interceptions. The 2005 season, Cutler's final year of play at Vanderbilt, was his most successful. As an 11-game starter, he completed 273 of 462 passes (59.1%) for 3,073 yards and threw 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions, as he became the first Commodore to win the SEC Offensive Player of the Year (coaches and media) since 1967. With his senior-season performance, Cutler became the second Commodore to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a season, while his 273 completions and 21 touchdowns ranked second on the school's single-season list. He led the Commodores to victories over Wake Forest, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Richmond and Tennessee. The Commodores also scored the second most points ever (42) laid upon the Florida Gators at their current home field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Vanderbilt nearly upset the 13th-ranked Gators before falling 49–42 in the second overtime after a controversial excessive celebration call prevented the Commodores from going for 2 at the end of regulation. Reflecting on Cutler's college career, former Denver Broncos safety John Lynch said, "If this guy can take a bunch of future doctors and lawyers and have them competing against the Florida Gators, this guy is a stud." Cutler ended his career by leading Vanderbilt past Tennessee, 28–24, their first over the Volunteers since 1982 (the year before Cutler was born) and the first in Knoxville since 1975. Cutler passed for three touchdowns and 315 yards, becoming the first quarterback in school history to record four consecutive 300-yard passing performances. Cutler's final play in college was the game-winning and streak-ending touchdown pass to teammate Earl Bennett against Tennessee. A finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (nation's top senior quarterback), Cutler was a first-team All-SEC pick by the league's coaches and led the conference with a school-record 3,288 yards of total offense. While at Vanderbilt, Cutler was a three-year captain and four-year starter, setting school career records for total offense (9,953 yards), touchdown passes (59), passing yards (8,697), pass completions (710), pass attempts (1,242), and combined touchdowns (76). Cutler graduated from Vanderbilt in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in human and organizational development. In 2016, Cutler was inducted into the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame.
Cutler was ranked by many experts as the third-best quarterback prospect in the 2006 NFL draft after Matt Leinart of USC and Vince Young of Texas. ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Ron Jaworski tabbed him as the best quarterback available in the draft, and some scouts believed he had better arm strength than Young and Leinart comparing him to Brett Favre for his gunslinger attitude. At the 2006 NFL Scouting Combine, Cutler completed 23 repetitions of a 225-pound bench press (more than some linemen) and ran a 40-yard dash in 4.77 seconds.
Cutler was selected, with the 11th pick of the first round of the draft by the Denver Broncos, who traded their 1st- and 3rd-round picks to the St. Louis Rams to move up. Many believed Cutler was chosen by the Broncos due to the lackluster performance in the previous season's AFC Championship Game of Jake Plummer. After the pick by Denver, Cutler said, "We had no warning. I think I knew about 15 seconds before everyone else did." Cutler, as predicted by most, was the third quarterback chosen, after Young (3rd overall) and Leinart (10th). He is the third first-round pick to come from Vanderbilt, preceded by Will Wolford and Bill Wade. On July 27, 2006, Cutler agreed to terms on a six-year $48 million contract, which included $11 million in bonuses. After a strong training camp in 2006, Cutler was promoted from third to second on the Broncos' quarterback depth chart ahead of Bradlee Van Pelt. He passed for more yards than any other rookie in the preseason. On November 27, head coach Mike Shanahan officially announced that Cutler would replace Jake Plummer as starting quarterback despite a 7–4 record because, "I think he gives us the best chance to win now." The controversial decision capped weeks of speculation and rumors about Cutler's impending promotion to a starting role. Cutler took his first NFL snap on December 3 (Week 13), and, after some initial jitters (0–3 with a sack and fumble), completed his first touchdown to tight end Stephen Alexander in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, he threw a memorable 71-yard touchdown to fellow-rookie Brandon Marshall to tie the game 20–20. It was one of the longest touchdown passes for a debut in NFL history and was also the second-longest pass play between two rookies in Broncos history. He also had two interceptions and took three sacks in the loss. On December 10, in a road loss against the San Diego Chargers, Cutler connected with tight end Tony Scheffler for two touchdowns in a span of 48 seconds, which is tied for fastest in league history that two rookies produced a pair of scoring passes. Cutler's first win came in his third start on December 17, which was a 37–20 road victory over the Arizona Cardinals. He finished the game 21-of-31 with 261 yards, two touchdowns, an interception, and a QB rating of 101.7, the highest for a Broncos' rookie since John Elway in 1983. One touchdown traveled 65 yards in the air, and was recorded as a 54-yard touchdown to Javon Walker on the Broncos' third play of the game. Shanahan said to the media, "You saw what he could do today. It doesn't take a genius out there to figure out this guy is very composed, can make all the throws and plays with a lot of confidence." Cutler then led the Broncos to a Christmas Eve win over the Cincinnati Bengals, 24–23, in his fourth start on the season. He went 12-of-23 with 179 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also directed the Broncos on a 99-yard drive in the third quarter that culminated on a Mike Bell two-yard touchdown run. As a result of the two passing touchdowns in the game against the Bengals, Cutler became the first rookie QB in NFL history to throw for at least two touchdowns in each of his first four games played. He also became the second rookie in league history (fifth player overall) to throw at least two touchdown passes in each of his first four starts. The Broncos' quest to clinch a playoff berth came up short in the final game of the season when they fell at home, 26–23, in overtime to the San Francisco 49ers. The loss dropped the Broncos to 9–7 overall and 4–4 at home. Despite sustaining a concussion in the first half, Cutler finished 21 of 32 with 230 yards and a touchdown and led Denver on a game-tying touchdown drive in the closing minutes of regulation to force overtime. In five games, Cutler finished with a record of 2–3 and went 81-of-137 for 1,001 yards, nine touchdowns, and five interceptions, earning a franchise rookie record passer rating of 88.5. He posted the second-highest touchdown percentage (6.6) and third-highest TD-to-INT ratio (1.8) among NFL rookies since 1970 with at least 125 passing attempts.
The 2007 NFL season marked Cutler's first full season as the starting quarterback for the Broncos. In the first game of the season against the Buffalo Bills, Cutler led Denver to a comeback win on a 12-play, 42-yard drive culminating in a Jason Elam 42-yard field goal as time expired. Cutler's pass attempts (39), completions (23), and yards (304) for the game were career-highs at the time. He led Denver to their second straight comeback win the next week in the home opener against the Oakland Raiders. Late in regulation, Cutler moved the team 78 yards in 15 plays for the game-tying field goal with 2:18 remaining. The game went into overtime, where he engineered a 52-yard drive that led to another game-winning field goal by Elam. Cutler had a touchdown pass during the game, making him the first Broncos passer to begin his Broncos career with at least one touchdown pass in his first seven starts. The streak reached nine games through losses to Jacksonville and Indianapolis (which featured his first career rushing touchdown), but ended with a 41–3 home loss to the San Diego Chargers in the fifth game of the season. After the bye week in Week 6, the 2-3 Broncos beat the 4–1 Pittsburgh Steelers, 31–28. Cutler had a passer rating of 106.7 and career highs of 75.9% passes completed, three touchdown passes, 41 rushing yards (including a long run of 31 yards), earning NBC Sunday Night Football's Horse Trailer Player of the Game (with Elam). Cutler finally had an interception-free game in his 12th start against the 6–1 Green Bay Packers, in which he drove 89-yards for a game-tying field goal in the last 2:27 of regulation, before losing in overtime, 19–13, on Green Bay's first play from scrimmage. In week 8, Cutler had just four attempts against the Detroit Lions before leaving with a leg injury; backup Patrick Ramsey floundered in a 44–7 loss. Cutler returned the next week in a 27–11 victory at Kansas City. In Week 10, the 4–5 Broncos faced the 6–3 Tennessee Titans (and fellow 2006 draftee Vince Young for the first time) on Monday Night Football. Cutler posted a career-second-best 137.0 passer rating in a 34–20 victory. He was the first Broncos quarterback since Elway in 1995 to throw two 40+ yard touchdowns in a game (of the team's franchise-record four 40+ yard touchdowns that night), and the 5–5 Broncos moved into a tie with San Diego atop the AFC West. However, the Broncos won only one of the next five games, a 41–7 Chiefs blowout. In that game, Cutler passed for four touchdowns and a then-career-best rating of 141.0. But that bright spot came between two pairs of losses; in the four games Cutler had five interceptions, took 12 sacks, twice had a rating under 50.0, and culminated in 23–3 loss to San Diego that eliminated the Broncos from the playoffs. Cutler salvaged a 7–9 record with a 22–19 overtime win over Minnesota, eliminating them as well. Denver missed the playoffs for a second straight year. Cutler started all 16 games, completing 297-of-467 passes (63.6%) for 3,497 yards, 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He was the NFL's 12th-ranked passer (88.1) and also had the tenth-most passing yards (3,497). Furthermore, Cutler was the league's ninth-best third-down passer, with a 92.1 passer rating (73-of-125 for 901 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions). It was the seventh most passing yards in Broncos history, and third-best completion percentage. Like his predecessor Plummer, Cutler showed mobility with 44 rushes for 205 yards (4.7 yards per carry) and a touchdown on the season. In late 2007, various experts suggested Cutler was the young quarterback most likely to reach the elite status along the lines of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Cutler, Brandon Marshall, and Tony Scheffler went to Atlanta together to train and work on timing for the 2008 season.
