Nice Job Assholes

Four errors?

What. The. Fuck.

I think it's time to bust out the "Edwin Jackson is disappointed in you" pic again:


Then again, Edwin walked two guys with the bases loaded (Gary Matthews Jr. and fucking Jeff Mathis) so it's not like he's an innocent victim here. The lone bright spot this series has to be Gramsterdam, who hit three dongs during the series. Still though, it's hard to feel good or find much positive into dropping 2 of 3 to a team that has six pitchers on the DL and started Matt Palmer against you... and got the win. Ugh.

Pleasepleasepleaseplease

Lions GM Martin Mayhew has already stated numerous times that he wants the deal with the first overall pick done before the draft tomorrow and luckily for those of us who do not feel that Stafford is the answer to Detroit's woes, a deal with Stafford remains unfinished as of Friday afternoon. To be honest, all signs seem to point towards Stafford still being the first overall pick in the 2009 draft - even Curry thinks he will be - but it's still a glimmer of hope.

It's not that I feel as though Stafford is a "bad" player, it's just that he is maddeningly inconsistent and wasn't as productive as I feel he should have been in college with the ridiculous amount of talent around him. Plus, if you whiff on your high first round QB pick, you get the Alex Smith-effect and your franchise is killed for a minimum of three years. I see the upside in Stafford (and, admittedly, it is tremendous), but I just don't agree with taking a very risky player at an already risky draft position for a franchise that needs anything but more risk at the moment.

Another thing that not many people seem to be talking about is the fact that next year's QB draft class projects to be very strong. Trying to guess how college players will perform in the upcoming season in April can be a dangerous prospect, but no matter how well the Lions draft this year they will, most likely, still be pretty bad this upcoming season and get another high draft pick. Then if you're not sold on Stafford at first overall, it's pretty enticing when you see names like Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy entering the NFL next year. The Lions have so many gaping holes that they really just need to take the best player available right now and build for the future.

In Miami, The Tuna took the Best Player Available in last year's draft (OT Jake Long) and relied on a vet as a stop-gap at QB while grooming Henne as heir apparent. Culpepper seems motivated enough to be passable while the team searches for its real franchise QB of the future.

If negotiations fall through with Stafford, reportedly a deal is already in place with Curry. How does a Julian Peterson, Ernie Sims and Aaron Curry linebacking core sound? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Although I have been a proponent of taking Jason Smith first overall for a while, the OT class this year is so ridiculously deep that the Lions could easily still get a quality left tackle with the 20th pick in the draft.

No matter what happens, the day before the NFL draft is an exciting time. Between rumors flying (Patriots want to trade into the top 10, the Cards' asking price for Boldin has gone down, Andre Smith and Mark Sanchez draft stock soaring, etc.) and the uncertainty of who is going where... it is a good time to be an NFL fan.

Edit:

I was just watching NFL Live and Cris Carter suggested that the Lions take Sanchez first overall and then trade up from 20 and take Andre Smith. Whatever you do Mayhew... don't do that.

Series Roundup: Mariners

The Tigers finished their 3 game trip to the land of rain and lattes pretty successfully, taking 2 games away from the reinvigorated and AL West-leading M's. The Tigers roster is really starting to round out and they should be in contention for the AL Central all year. Ramon Santiago has been the surprise of the year for the Tigers with 11 RBI, good for second best on the team behind Miggy. Santiago played every game in the Seattle series because Everett was out with the flu (hey Everett, you pussy, Edwin played fine with the flu) and now there are rumblings that Ramon has earned himself extra playing time, perhaps even taking over the majority of the timeshare. Everett is as solid as they come defensively at short, but he can't hit for shit, and Ramon is no slouch defensively as well - so I say bring on the dude batting .320 with 11 RBI and 1 HR. In addition, Ramon fits better into Leyland's new found aggressive/speed approach (11 SB across all levels in '07). Leyland is running his players much more than normal and I love it. The aggressiveness on the base paths is manufacturing more runs... plus I get to see Miggy stealing bases and suicide squeezes, which provides me with much entertainment. The shocked reaction from Pierzynski when Miggy took off for second from first brings a smile to my face even now days later. Who knew the big man could move?

Take out one bad inning and the Tigers may have even swept the M's in their own ballpark.

Let's try to focus on the (many) positives from this series though:

• Although Verlander's stat line may not look all that great in the end (7.1 IP 8 H 5 ER 1 BB), it is very reassuring to see him strike out eight while walking only one. Based off his last two starts, it looks like he is very, very close to taking a step forward from his '07 campaign and becoming the guy whose talent dictates him being a top-10 pitcher in the AL.

• Edwin Jackson might actually be for real? After Saturday's start he is the owner of a brand-spanking-new ERA of 2.14 and a 13:5 K:BB ratio. If only Brandon Lyon wasn't a bum, Edwin would have two wins early in this season instead of one. And what is the player we gave up for Edwin up to? He's in AAA. I'm not by any means saying that Joyce is, or will be, a bust... but Dombrowski is looking pretty good right now.
  

• Porcello looked downright dominant against the M's on Sunday. Dominant. Even as the youngest hurler on an already young staff at 20 (Verlander 26, Bondo 26, Jackson 25, Galarraga 27) he has shown a lot of poise and does not seem overwhelmed by the major leagues at all. The question is whether Bondo can come back completely healthy and effective and then whether this young pitching staff can keep its roll going. If so, then a perceived offseason weakness for the Tigers might actually end up being a strength.

• The continuing success of Binge has me utterly befuddled. Peter Gammons was on Baseball Tonight early in the season discussing how Binge was a much better player offensively when he didn't have to worry about catching since it took such a physical toll on his body. At the time I just sort of laughed it off, but maybe he was onto something. There is no way he can sustain his current .289 BA and there will undoubtedly be some regression to the mean for this career .237 hitter, but enjoy it while your bat is hot Binge.

• No more Zach Miner starts! Thank you Jeebus, Allah, The Flying Spaghetti Monster and any other deity I may have forgotten.
  

The upcoming series with the surprisingly bad Angels should be interesting just because the Halos are incredibly dinged up with Vlad, Kelvim Escobar, Ervin Santana, John Lackey and Dustin Moseley all on the DL (plus the passing of Adenhart, obviously). It's like an entire team of Chris Carpenters. With scheduled starts against Jered Weaver (who looks eerily similar to one-time favored son of the Tigers and brother, Jeff), flyball specialist Joe Saunders and some other dude, Miggy and crew have the potential to put a massive hurting on the Halos.

The Tigers are currently in a 3-way tie with the White Sox and Royals for the AL Central lead and I pretty much see the Central being extremely tight all year. The White Sox will likely fall off the pace, but I feel that this division will be the most competitive in baseball this year (with the possible exception of the Fish, Braves, Phillies and Mets battling all year in the NL East).

If I put the over/under on Greinke winning a Cy Young at 2.5 years (including this year), would anyone want to take the over? This guy is looking like a certified baller.

Michigan Spring Game Roundup

Michigan held their annual spring game this past Saturday and here are some semi coherent thoughts about the experience.

The locker room tour line was insanely long. By the time we got to the stadium around 9 am, the line already stretched about halfway around the stadium from the Crisler parking lot to the corner of Main and Stadium. According to reports, about 15,000 people managed to see the locker room during the 2 hours it was open to the public. The first person in line showed up at 3:30 am. The reasons for this excitement to see a locker room are not apparent to me. The huge line was enough for us to say "No thanks" to the experience. It is something that would be interesting to check out but not worth waiting an hour or more in line to see. Some people were said to be crying. About seeing a locker room. Again, I don't get it.

The Walmart Wolverines were out in full force. There was quite a collection of missing teeth, bad hair, and Wolverines apparel straight out of the '90s. I guess a chance for free admission to Michigan Stadium to watch Michigan football was enough to get them to put down their Natural Lights and pull them from their trailer parks. I can't knock them too much because at least they are fans enough to support the team even after a historically bad year.

The alumni flag football game was somewhat entertaining. If a seemingly made up on the fly point system, Jim Brandstatter and Frank Beckman rambling to each other on the PA system, and teams mostly made up of former walk-ons sounds like a good time, then this game was for you. The big name participants were Rick Leach, Anthony Thomas, and Larry Foote. The rest of the teams were filled with guys you may remember: Ron Bellamy, Carl Diggs, Phil Brabbs. And a bunch of guys I had never heard of before. Rick Leach looked like he probably could have been a better quarterback than Sheridan or Threet last season, huge gut and all (ok that's a lie). Larry Foote, most likely risking a fine from the Steelers by playing, made a ridiculous one-handed interception that ended up being called back by a penalty. Ron Bellamy was by far the best player on the field and made several nice plays. The point system included 4 points for an interception and 10 points for an interception returned for touchdown. Brandstatter and Beckman, who apparently walked around for most of the game with his fly down, were interviewing various participants during the game but no one in the stands could hear them or really seemed to care. The Blue team won on this TD


and mostly people seemed happy that it was over. I was fine with the arbitrary point system and the general silliness of the event but I hope that next year they can build off of this year's buzz and get some bigger name alumni back.

As for the actual game that wasn't even a game. The team came out and warmed up like a real game and even ran out onto the field under the M Go Blue banner. A small version of the band was present along with the dance team. The team warmed up with rap music blaring and left the field to "Thunderstruck." People around me commented that Lloyd never would have allowed such blasphemy. I think that changes like this that Rich Rodriguez has brought are good things that show that this event is supposed to be fun.

The scrimmage started with 10 minutes of special teams that really did nothing to boost anyone's confidence. All 3 kickers looked terrible on field goals, Zoltan booted a few huge punts but also shanked one about 10 yards straight out of bounds, and Odoms dropped the only punt he fielded. Zoltan really shouldn't be a cause for concern and should be a top 3 punter in the nation. The field goal situation won't be sorted out until recruit Brendan Gibbons shows up this summer and Rich Rod even hinted that some other walk-ons this summer will get a shot. Rodriguez also said that pretty much every slot receiver will get a shot at returning punts along with some other freshman. Really this shouldn't be an issue by fall as one of the 8 or so players seems likely to be able to cleanly field punts.

After the special teams debacle, the real scrimmage began with a point system that tried to reward the defense but still heavily favored the offense if they put together a scoring drive. Most of the day consisted of the first teamers on each side against the second and third teams of the other side, although most players on the 2 deep got a chance with the first team. The point system had the offense winning with a number like 58-30. Here were the six main highlights for me:

1. Tate Forcier is pretty solid. Most of the reports after the game are going to gush about how great he was throwing 3 TDs and running for another while not throwing an interception. Outside of the fact that it was against the second team, the defense couldn't hit him and didn't blitz him much at all. So expectations of greatness need to be tempered.

I'm already very annoyed by the Tate fanboiz

With that said, he looked very sharp, missing only 2 or 3 passes and delivering very catchable accurate balls. He showed good decision making on several rollouts and options in terms of when to run. His quickness is good and he seems elusive but not amazingly fast. All things considered, he seems to have a good start heading into summer.

2. The offensive line looks improved. The inexperienced line of last year is nowhere to be found as offensive line appears to be a source of strength and depth this coming season. They opened up several nice holes, pass blocked well, and rarely seemed to miss a block. However when facing players like Dominique Ware, a 5'7" 250 pound walk-on defensive tackle, holes are expected to be opened. While Ware might resemble a fire hydrant, he is much easier to move than most DTs the team will see this year. I may support the Rodriguez's emphasis on recruiting fast midgets to make plays on offense, I do not support midget linemen. One of the most amusing sights of the day was seeing Ware next to 6'5" 330 pound freshman DT Will Campbell, ranking a close second behind 6'5" QB David Cone handing off to 5'6" RB Vincent Smith.

An example of a Cone-Smith handoff

3. Playmakers will emerge on offense this year. Last year's edition of the Wolverines severely lacked playmakers on offense. Carlos Brown busted an 82 yard TD run, Roy Roundtree caught 2 TDs including a 50ish yard strike from Forcier, and Vincent Smith and Kevin Grady both broke free for 25 yard TD runs. Darryl Stonum and Greg Mathews also made acrobatic catches. Highlights can be found here.

4. The defense looked not so good. Saturday was essentially a showcase for the offense and that was partly due to the defense. But this defense is breaking in the third coordinator in as many years and essentially played base defense the entire day. Not wanting to give anything away to future opponents, they didn't blitz much, couldn't really attack the quarterbacks, and seemed to know that they shouldn't try to hit too hard for fear of more injuries. They did show multiple base looks (3-4, 4-3, over, under) highlighting the changes brought by new coordinator Greg Robinson. Stevie Brown got the award for the senior with the most improvement during spring practice, continuing his legacy of being a Heisman caliber practice player. Thoughts were that he might finally put it together this year in this new hybrid safety/linebacker role. He promptly got juked by David Cone, who seems slightly faster than John Navarre, on the way to a 50 yard run. In all fairness to Brown, he couldn't hit Cone and didn't seem to consider him a running threat (and who can blame him). He gets a free pass for now.

5. The safety position is still a huge question mark. Troy Woolfolk was one of the starters at safety and he was moved there 4 or 5 practices ago. Not a good sign. Woolfolk is supposed to be one of the fastest guys on the team but the fact that a converted CB can move to a starting role in 4 practices over a physical specimen like Brandon Smith is not good. True Freshman Vlad Emilien is supposedly impressing in practice but got burned badly by Carlos Brown on his 82 yard TD run. This will be one of the most important positions this coming year.

6. The team, especially the defense, is pretty thin in terms of depth. The defense was essentially playing without 5 starters all day. CB Donovan Warren, DT Mike Martin, and LB Jones Mouton didn't dress, DE Ryan Van Bergen injured his knee early on during the scrimmage, and DE Brandon Graham barely played for fear of injury. This highlighted the lack of depth at almost every position on defense as the second team was full of walk-ons and freshmen. The defense will need to be abnormally injury free this year for any chance of success. The offense was in much better shape in terms of both injuries and depth. As mentioned the offensive line should be really deep, and there are plenty of WRs and RBs. QB depth is obviously lacking as the third team was led by a true freshman walk-on QB Jack Kennedy. Kennedy actually looked better than second teamer David Cone but will likely be the 5th stringer come fall once Denard Robinson shows up and Nick Sheridan recovers from this broken leg.

Random additional thoughts:

More highlights can be found here.

There were a ton of recruits present at the game and most seemed very positive toward Michigan afterwards. Michigan picked up another commitment for 2010 from a RB out of Texas named Stephen Hopkins giving them 8 verbals so far for 2010. Hopkins is a bigger back in the mold of Brandon Minor.

The stadium construction looks on schedule and it looks like most of the facade on the inside of the stadium will be in place by the start of next season.

A number of former Wolverines were on hand including LaMarr Woodley, Mike Hart, Desmond Howard, and Steve Breaston.

With one more spring practice left on Tuesday, look for comprehensive offense and defense reviews and wrapups of spring practice later this week.

Who Are You And What Have You Done With Fernando Rodney

This afternoon Fernando came into a tight 4-3 game against the Rangers in the top of the 9th and pitched a perfect - and I mean perfect - inning to earn his first save (2.0 IP 3 K 0 ER 0 H 0 BB so far this season). Rodney got David Murphy to chase a ball outside the zone for his first put out and then just completely blew both Chris Davis and Salty away, topping out around 96 MPH, for a 3 up / 3 K inning. Has an alien stolen his body? Where is the Fernando Rodney that we all know and love that specializes in blowing games? Well, whoever you are you deserve some props for that performance.

WHO IS THIS MAN?!?

The pitching as a whole was just fantastic this afternoon. Everyone worried about Verlander (*raises hand*) can feel a whole lot better after his outing today (5.o IP 1 ER 8 K). Control is still a bit of an issue (4 BB) but Verlander was really blowing the Rangers hitters away and probably deserved the win, although he didn't get it. The inning that resulted in Verlander getting the hook wasn't even really his fault at all and it should have been over relatively quickly, but two errors (Binge, Everett) extended the inning, causing Verlander to throw extra pitches, and lead to two unearned runs. Without those two errors, the only offense Texas was able to muster was a solo shot from Hank Blalock and Verlander kept the potent Ranger offense completely in check the rest of the time. Ex-embattled starting pitcher and current middle reliever Nate Robertson ended up with the win and although I think Verlander probably deserved it, Robertson still pitched quite well, retiring all 6 batters he faced, so no biggie. Although it is well-documented that Robertson was very displeased when he first learned that he was being moved into the bullpen, I think it is becoming clearer that his ability and skillset is much better suited for a middle relief role. Sorry Nate, but this is just the way it is.

I also found it very interesting how much faith Leyland has in the young, hard-throwing Ryan Perry. Leyland brought him in to face the very hot Nelson Cruz and Jim's confidence was rewarded with a big out. This was now Perry's third appearance and although he has been a little up and down and his control still needs work, he has been very promising so far. Against Toronto he pitched a perfect inning. In his first work against the Rangers during the 15-2 shellacking on April 10th he smoked the first batter he faced, but then got a little wild and walked two guys before getting yanked. Then came in today and got Cruz out in a 1 run game. I know that Leyland probably wishes that his two young pitchers, Perry and Porcello, got more time in the minors getting polished before moving up, but the state of the Tigers' bullpen and starting rotation sort of forced his hand. Both have responded well so far however, showing maturity, great ability and a ton of promise.

On an amusing side note, Miggy was somehow voted the FSN player of the game despite going 0/4. Umm, his defense at first base was very solid I suppose (in fact, I have noticed that his defense is much improved from last year). I guess when it comes to anything that fans vote for, the heart wants what the heart wants. Sorry people that actually had a good game (Laird, Verlander, Rodney, Robertson and Polanco to name a few).

Other random musings:

• Gerald Laird is a way better player than I knew prior to the season. He is handling the pitching staff quite well and his hitting very well as well (.389 BA on the season) while flashing some wheels - he has a double and a triple through 5 games and today also caught Josh Hamilton by surprise when he tagged up on a routine fly ball to center and managed to move up a base. I love how he has just been going out and hustling every day. You can tell he likes being "the guy" for the Tigers and no longer has to constantly worry about losing playing time to Salty and Taylor Teagarden like he had to in Texas. Good start to the season for him.
  

• Although Nelson Cruz's line 2 games into the series against the Tigers is solid-but-not-eyepopping (2/8 1 HR 1 RBI 2 K 0 BB), this guy is a fantastic player. He has very real power, great defense out there in right field and an absolutle cannon for an arm. Cruz launched a laser from deep right on a Marcus Thames sac fly where Polanco was just tagging up from third and made the play much, much closer than it should have been. The future looks bright.

• What the fuck is Chris Davis doing? He is an anemic 1/18 so far this season and has made a couple questionable defensive decisions. This is the same 2008 Rangers' Rookie of the Year, right? More importantly, you're killing my fantasy team Chris. Stop it. Asshole.
  

Miggy = Man's Man

I know it isn't going out on a limb or anything because a lot of people are predicting this, but as I watch Miguel Cabrera blast a grand slam to left-center at CoPa during the home opener (7-0 Tigers currently wahooo) I can't help but feel that Miggy will win the Triple Crown this year. Perhaps even MVP. He was a respectable 9/32 with 2 HR during the WBC and just looked like he was going to mash. He is currently 10/14 with 3 HR and 8 RBI 4.5 games into the season. I don't think anyone can deny that he is going to have a monstrous year.

This is a man... and his bat.

This guy is going to be raping AL Central pitching for many, many years to come.

Update: Cabrera just missed his second HR of the day by about an inch. Oh well, add another 2 RBI to the score sheet. 14-1 Tigers. I know it's the Rangers and that roughing up Kris Benson, Warner Madrigal and Josh Rupe isn't the most impressive thing in the world, but honestly at this point I'm not sure if it matters all that much who is pitching to him - he's going to rake no matter what.

Brandon Lyon Is Now Edwin Jackson's BFF

Brandon Lyon is in the process of continuing his further decline into mediocrity and seems determined to drag the Detroit pitching staff down with him after blowing Edwin Jackson's outstanding 7.1 IP 1 ER 4 K 2 H 1 BB gem in the second game of the season... twice. Seriously. In the bottom of the 8th Lyon served up a 3 run tater tot to Aaron Hill and then when Binge tied the game with a solo blast (does Binge only hit solo HRs? I honestly don't think I have ever seen him hit a non-solo HR) in the 9th, Lyon promptly returned to the mound in the bottom of the inning and gave the game away. What the hell happened to his pre-All Star break 2007 with the Dbacks? This guy's career has been buckling under pressure harder than Rihanna's face.

Edwin looks happy that his win was blown.

The optimist in me wants to focus on the excellent game Jackson pitched, but it's hard to have a whole lot of faith in a guy who last year had an ERA of 4.42, a downright frightening WHIP of 1.505 and was so highly thought of in Tampa Bay that they dropped him from the postseason roster. Now he's our second guy in the rotation. *smacks forehead*

At least Miggy has been looking good. He was 2/2 with 2 walks and a run scored yesterday. Umm... yay? Binge has knocked in two homers in two games (HOLY SHIT HE'S ON PACE FOR 162 HRs) but had a throwing error - and he's supposed to be there for his defense so we'll call it a wash.

Between Verlander getting hammered in the opener, Zumaya's injury maybe being even more serious that we thought, Bonderman starting the season on the DL, shady things going on with the D-Train, etc. there isn't much that seems to be going right early this season.

Maybe it's a little presumptuous of me to question a guy with 17 years of managerial experience, 3 Manager of the Year awards and a World Series championship, but I'll do it anyway (obviously). Don't get me wrong, I am not a Fernando Rodney supporter by any means (in fact, he sucks) but I just don't "get" why you bring a guy who has already blown a game once in the 8th back in the 9th to close it out. Trying to show confidence/belief/whatever in your players and trying to win games are sometimes the same thing and sometimes they aren't. This is a case where they weren't. Lyon and Rodney are both right-handers too so it's not as though there were some match up concerns with the Toronto lineup, unless something is escaping my notice. The Tigers get a shot at Jesse Litsch tonight however. Wait a second, Miner is pitching? FML.

In summation, even with the retirement of Todd Jones the Tigers' bullpen will... how should I say this... make things "exciting" throughout the year. In the meantime while Lyon tries to get his shit together, this is what Piper Palin thinks of you:

Suck it Lyon.

Well This Is Getting Ugly

As the ridiculous drama that has become McJaygate ("CutDanielsgate" was already taken I guess) continues, things just got a whole lot dicier late Wednesday night.

“I was surprised they decided to trade me this soon,” Cutler said. “I didn’t want to get traded. This wasn’t me. They [The Broncos] had been going back and forth saying things, wanting me to be their quarterback and then they didn’t. I really didn’t want this. I love Denver. I really like my teammates. I didn’t want it to get this far.”

Woah. Where the hell did this come from? I don't think I have ever heard two sides as far apart as to what the truth is as these guys. Bowlen claims that "numerous" attempts to contact Cutler have been made both by him and McDaniels all to no avail. Cutler claims that no one has made any attempt at all to contact him. Pardon my French, but what the fuck is going on here?

Either Pat Bowlen is in the bizarro world from that Seinfeld episode and he thinks the word "numerous" means "fucking zero, zilch and nada"... or someone isn't telling the truth. Oh wait, I figured it out. They obviously must have Cutler's wrong phone number. Duuuh. I bet Cutler Salon's phones have been ringing off the hook and they can't figure out why because no one named Jay works there. Coincidentally someone named "Zay" works there and he is aaamaaazing with a pair of scissors and a blow dryer. Josh and Pat, use the Yellow Pages to avoid mistakes like this in the future. In fact, use your newfound tool (not these guys, the Yellow Pages) to call up Brian Dawkins, that 7x Pro Bowler who just signed with you, and tell him he just joined a team with the 30th ranked defense last year that is completely incapable of keeping a starting running back healthy, coached by a 32 year-old (AKA he's 3 years younger than you) first year guy that is now trading away its franchise QB. Just go ahead and kick Dawkins in the balls while you're at it.

Speaking of keeping RBs healthy... If I may be permitted to go off on a tangent here, you suits in the Denver front office realize that your RB core was so decimated by injuries last year that you had to resort to a guy who was third string in college, right? And then you go out and sign the "The Turtle" Lamont Jordan to a 2-year deal? What. The. Fuck. Good signing guys, it's been 5 years since Lamont has played a full season - he's obviously due. I wish there was an emoticon that rolled its eyes while making a fapping motion because that's what I need right now. To quote Comic Book Guy, there really is no "emote icon" for what I'm feeling.

Okay, back on track. To make matters even more of a clusterfuck, the Jets, Vikings, Bucs, Panthers, 49ers, Browns, Redskins, Bears, Titans and of course the Lions have all been at the very least rumored to have made inquiries about Cutler. The Titans, Jets and Browns can all be pretty much ruled out immediately because the Broncos have basically stated that they won't trade him to any AFC team (similar to the Brett Favre fiasco a year ago). It is rumored that the Browns may end up being an integral part of the deal however. A three team deal where the Broncos get either Quinn or DA, the Browns get picks and/or other compensation and the third team gets Cutler really keeps a lot of the teams who don't have a QB to offer in return to Denver in the mix (Bowlen and McDaniels have made it clear that they need to get a QB out of this). Plus, whichever Browns QB goes, the arrangement would solve the QB controversy that is sure to swallow Browns minicamp between the hometown boy and the Pro Bowler in a nice tidy way. The 49ers and Panthers have been mentioned briefly but don't seem to be among those pushing really hard. The Vikings, who with Cutler would probably be in the Super Bowl in my opinion, are also only moderately involved in trade talks and seem content with their Sage Rosenfels signing. The Bears, similarly to the Vikings, have expressed faith in Kyle Ortdon for some unknown reason. The weirdest one on this list for me is also the one that may be the front runner - the Redskins. The Redskins already have a fairly decent QB who just suffers from having a different offensive coordinator every fucking year, but Daniel Snyder must be allergic to the draft because he is constantly trading picks away and gets a hard-on for signing free agents. Seriously, he can't fuck Tanya unless he has just signed, or is thinking about signing, the latest slightly-over-the-hill overpriced guy.

The Lions seem to be at a slight disadvantage because no one in the NFL wants the 1st overall pick due to the financial burden it entails, so it's really their other 1st round pick (the 20th) that is on the table. This is unfortunate for the Lions because the other two teams that appear to be pushing the hardest for Cutler, the Redskins and the Bucs, pick at 13 and 19, respectively. One "high-profile NFL agent" (I love the anonymous sources these reporters use... 10 bucks says the "high-profile NFL agent" is the guy that cleans Drew Rosenhaus's fishtank) has said that Cutler may go for a first and second rounder this year and another first next year.

I don't see why people are expecting Cutler to go for this much. Would I be stunned if he went for two firsts and a second? No, I suppose not since there are a lot of teams and the bidding war might get a little loco... but the problem is that the Broncos have no leverage after Bowlen flat out stated that things are so bad that Cutler won't even return their calls and no one except a handful of people in their own front offices know how much these tight-lipped football execs really, truly like Cutler and are willing to pay for him. Plus, the precedent set this very offseason hurts the theory that a team will have to pay a downright extravagant fee for Cutler's service. Cassel, another up-and-coming QB in this league, went to the Chiefs for only a single second round pick... and the Chiefs got Mike Vrabel to boot. Now I'm not saying that Cutler will only fetch a single second round pick, but I would be mildly surprised if he went for as much as two firsts and a second. The Broncos are rumored to be requesting "more than" a first and a third. I'm not even entirely convinced that will hapen.

Another thing about Cutler that makes him incredibly desirable to teams is his contract. Cutler's contract is structured so that most of his money was paid through bonuses and therefore he is only owed $1.035 million in base salary next year. That is shockingly low. To put that in perspective, the Lions are paying Daunte Culpepper $5 million next year (although $2.5 million of it has been "pushed back") and if they were to select Matt Stafford first overall they would have to pay him $30-40 million in guaranteed money. How good does getting Jay Cutler and only having to pay him $1 million next year sound? Yeah, that's what I thought.

I have no problem admitting that I am a card-carrying, certified Jay Cutler fanboy so I would really like to see the Lions pick him up (not for two fucking firsts and second rounder though). The knock against him has always been that he takes too many chances and forces some balls he shouldn't. However, I don't mind having a guy with the gunslinger mentality and a little bit of swagger (some might call it overconfidence). The pros, on the other hand, are substantial. Cutler has elite arm strength, great mobility, he's only 25, he has improved significantly every year and he showed ridiculous toughness at Vanderbilt getting annhilated every game going up against far superior SEC talent but would still hang tough in the pocket every play. Many people feel that last year was just the tip of the iceberg as far as the offensive output of which he is capable.