Alex Harkaway
For the Review

Last season Jay Cutler handled zone blitzes, cover twos and just about everything else defenses threw at him on route to more than 4,500 yards passing.
This offseason he ran into something he could not handle: Trade rumors. His reaction to his name surfacing in a rumored trade from the Broncos to the Buccaneers was to pout, to refuse to communicate with his coach to demand to be traded.
His cowardice was a surprise to Bronco fans that, until this incident, had viewed Cutler as a franchise quarterback and their most important building block since John Elway. Even more of a surprise, however, was how Denver dealt with it. Normally, teams hate to give in to the demands of players under contract. Often, players asking to be traded or given raises are in for long and nasty holdouts with their teams, who do not want to be held hostage by their demands. The Broncos, however, wasted no time granting Cutler’s wish, and they should be commended for it.
By making it known to the entire league that Cutler was available, the Broncos were able to benefit from quarterback-hungry teams lining up to bid on him. This allowed them to come away with a massive haul from the Chicago Bears: Two first-round draft picks, a third rounder and quarterback Kyle Orton. That is far more than the New England Patriots received for Matt Cassel earlier this offseason, a quarterback with similar 2008 statistics to Cutler’s.
As much as the Broncos looked like winners after this trade, Cutler appears to be the big loser. No longer does he have talented receivers Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, who combined for almost 200 catches last year, to throw to. Now his starting receivers will be Rashied Davis and Earl Bennett, who combined for a whopping 35 receptions last year. Furthermore, Cutler must leave the AFC West, where he feasted on defensively challenged Oakland and Kansas City four times each year. Now he has better defensive teams to contend within his division, such as the Minnesota Vikings. On top of that, he will have to play a good portion of his games in the frigid conditions of Soldier Field, not exactly quarterback heaven. It’s a good bet that Cutler will never reach 4,500 yards again.
As long as trades are a part of the game, trade rumors will be also. If a player is going to complain and whine about his name being included in them like Cutler did, that player’s team should take a page out of the Bronco’s playbook and show him the door. There is no room in the NFL for crybabies.