Why McDaniels Wanted Cassel Over Cutler

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It is a beautiful thing to see the whole Broncos Nation flipped upside down with all this Jay Cutler drama going on, and the cause of it all is our man Matt Cassel. Why did the Broncos want Cassel over Cutler so bad? I know Josh McDaniels worked with Matt Cassel all last year, but I believe it goes deeper than that. I mean Jay Cutler is a decent QB, so why were they willing to ship him away? It is simple. Matt Cassel > Jay Cutler. Here is why.

2008 Stats

Player	Comp	Att	Pct	Att/G	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD	Int	QB Rating
Matt Cassel	327	516	63.4	32.2	3,693	7.2	230.8	21	11	89.2
Jay Cutler	384	616	62.3	38.5	4,526	7.3	282.9	25	18	86.0

The stats don’t lie. Our boy MC was better than Jay Cutler in pretty much every stat last year. We are talking about basically a rookie in Matt Cassel, who hasn’t been a starter since high-school, doing better than a “established” starter in the NFL.

This is what intrigues and excites me the most. Last year, all I ever heard anyone say about Tyler Thigpen was that ” oh, he’s basically a rookie and look how he’s doing, he’s got such potential,” and rightly so. I was one of those people. Well, look how well Matt Cassel did last year and he was basically in the same boat as Thigpen, having never been a starter.

On the other hand, Jay Cutler showed great potential coming into the league, but what Josh McDaniels might be worried about is that Jay is leveling off and starting to show his true colors. Don’t get me wrong, I will give credit when credit is due and JC is a good QB. But I’m sure McDaniels took into account both players’ potential, and having seen MC first hand for an entire year he felt persuaded to go after Matt.

The bottom line is this: If Jay Cutler was better than Matt Cassel or even as good, then Josh McDaniels and the Broncos front office would not have gone after Cassel. Less than six months to go until 2009 kickoff and, no, I cannot wait. If the Donkeys ship Cutler away, that’s great for us. If they keep him, it will just heat up the rivalry. This year is going to be fun, folks.

(Go vote for who the Chiefs should take in our sister site Phin Phanatic’s interactive mock draft, as our Red and Gold is on the clock. Should be interesting! – Adam)

Tags: denver broncos, jay cutler, josh mcdaniels, kansas city chiefs, matt cassel

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[...] Arrowhead Addict explains why Josh McDaniels may have wanted Matt Cassel over Jay Cutler. [...]

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blue

There's only one problem with the title. McDaniels DID NOT want Cassel over Cutler. He was approached about it, and Denver turned it down, opting to keep the better young QB in Cutler, in spite of his whining.

dbk301

I'd much rather have Cutler than Cassel. If I was Pioli I'd be calling up McDaniel and telling him I'd be more than happy to help him out with the mess he created by trading him Cassel for Cutler.

Chiefs447

Southeast Chief,

"If you ask the donkeys why they did not win more games, why they did not win the division, or why Shanahan was fired, they will tell you that it was due to a terrible defense."

Not to mention they went through, I believe, 7 running backs. Cutler carried that team last year, just like he carried Vandy.

SoutheastChief

I would take Cutler over Matt but I am very biased. I am a Vanderbilt fan. I watched him carry a not too good team and make it respectable for 4 years. He almost beat a national champion (lost in OT) in their home stadium (Florida - the year they beat Ohio State). He still has a fabulous arm that will win a lot of games and will sometimes lose one or two. He is a very tough player.

If you ask the donkeys why they did not win more games, why they did not win the division, or why Shanahan was fired, they will tell you that it was due to a terrible defense. They were able to stay in the hunt because of Cutler not in spite of him.

Now put away your weapons - - I have nothing against Matt. I will cheer for him and our Chiefs just like I will cheer for TT or BC or whoever leads us. If Jay stays a donkey, I will be happy when we intercept him, when we beat the donkeys, and when we go to the playoffs and they stay home - but I do like him. He made the pro bowl but would have been ready to make this (2009) his break out year if his new coach had not been disloyal or less than forthcoming. That said, I think Jay suffers from the same thing Favre suffered from - poor advice from an agent who cares more for himself than the person he represents.

xxxlp

Randy5k Says:
How much did JC contribute to the Broncos offensive being the second in the league and how much of that was their protection of him?
Randy5k Says:
Matt’s season ended with an excellent win/loss ration and the retention of the head coach. Cutlers season ended with a legendary head coach being fired over it and a loss to the Chiefs! I think the stats are close but the reality is much more in Maximum Matts favor.

If you're going to bring up his line, (Matt still had a better offensive line, even if the Patriots' line struggled at times,) then we might as well look at the WHOLE situation then, eh? Matt had better receivers, hands down. Meanwhile, on top of having worse receivers, Jay's best WR was suspended two games. Moving on, the only two other things that need mentioned are 'Running Backs', and 'Defense'. I don't even think those need explained. To bring up other players, and then talk about how he had a better win/loss ratio.. Well that's just dumb, to be honest. We're comparing quarterbacks, not teams. And if you look at the team aspect, Jay Cutler did a helluva lot more for his team than Matty C. did for his. Don't get me wrong, I like Cassel, and I hope he turns into the next Brady. But Jay put that team on his back and carried them. Crybaby or not, I respect that.

Randy5k

Excellent points Zach-ster

Matt's season ended with an excellent win/loss ration and the retention of the head coach. Cutlers season ended with a legendary head coach being fired over it and a loss to the Chiefs! I think the stats are close but the reality is much more in Maximum Matts favor.

Jeremy_Riverside_CA

Mike Goff signed. not too bad.

snead101

I like the comments going on here, but for me I think the most important stat of all is WINS. Who had more wins last year, Matt Cassell did, one of those beating us. And who was the QB that completely and utterly choked at the stretch of the year when it mattered most, that's right, the whining beotch of a mini donkey Jay. I like Tyler but come one, the guy just couldn't pull us through a win last year when it actually mattered, and that is why I'm excited about our new Cassell.

Z. Waldron

I understand all of that but my point was simply that cassel had a better 2008 season than jay cutler IMO.

Vrod74-MikeSD

My point Zach was simply you really cannot say his stats are better when he barely leads two out of ten categories.

NO! But stats have nothing to do with it. Cassel is a team player and that is what we need on this team at the QB position. Cutler is a whining little bitch that I would trade if I was McD. However, we might have made a mistake with Cassel. We don't know his full potential yet. He did absolutely great on a great team. The real test begins for him when he puts on that Chiefs helmet and gets to work. Then, AND ONLY THEN, will we really know if this trade was great for our beloved Chiefs! Sorry, but I like to be realistic. Realistically speaking, he has played 1 year. Can we really call him our QB of the future based on limited playing time in college and the NFL? I say no, but look how Brady started out in the NFL. Maybe we got another Brady-type situation. I am keeping the fingers and toes crossed that we did. He does have a lot of upside for essentially a one year player.

vrod-
so would you rather have cutler over cassel?

and some of these stars are conditional, so yeah jay threw for 1000 more yards than mc but he also had 100 more attempts

Last time I looked, 2 out of 10 is 20%.

Merlin-

I wasn't compaing thigpsn to cassel I was just saying look at the potential each of them showed. And yes cassel was slightly better than cutler in those categories but I would say that's pretty huge considering this was his 1st year starting and cutler has been starting for a few years now.

We could fix all of this if we could trade Todd Haley for Josh McDaniels. McD is who Pioli really wanted in the first place. Talk about being on the same page, those guys would be great together. Not to mention Pioli, McD, and Cassel. Plus Haley could have his QB to throw the ball 50 times a game cause you know he isn't going to run it enough. It would be perfect. Just my opinion, but then again, seeing the Broncos in crisis is just too good.

Coast515

here is a little something off of nfl.com page
4. Time to compete, Tyler
When I talked with new Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley, he was quick to point out that he called Tyler Thigpen and told him not to surrender the starting quarterback job to recently acquired Matt Cassel. Haley said: "Check my history. The best guy will play."

Merlin

Adam:

Sorry about that. I thought you wrote that article. It had all the earmarks, mad love for a skill guy, lol.

"Our boy MC was better than Jay Cutler in pretty much every stat last year"

Basically one percentage point better on completion percentage and three points better on QB rating while leading a team that went 16-0 the previous year. Sorry, you can't compare Cassel to Thiggy. Thiggy had one training camp with the Chiefs and that was as the #3 guy. Cassel had several training camps with Pats, at least a couple as the #2 guy.

BOWEFAN

Hey I want Matt over Jay...............

Oh wait we got him!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"The stats don’t lie. Our boy MC was better than Jay Cutler in pretty much every stat last year."

REALLY? You should probably read the stats before writing that.

Matt led only the completion percentage and rating stats, 63.4 and 89.2, respectively.

Baby Donkey-Face led every other category. So it is more of a question of which stats do you want to see.

Is Baby Donkey-Face better than MC?......Actually the jury is still out for me. I am HOPING and PRAYING, that we have the better of the two. Besides, who the frak wants a crybaby like JC.