Jay Cutler (football player)

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Jay Cutler
Date of birth April 29, 1983 (age 23)
Place of birth Flag of United States Santa Claus, Indiana
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 233 lb (106 kg)
Position(s) QB
College Vanderbilt
NFL Draft 2006 / Round 1 / Pick 11
Stats
Statistics
Team(s)
2006–present Denver Broncos

Jay Cutler (born April 29, 1983 in Santa Claus, Indiana, USA) is the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He played for the Vanderbilt Commodores from 2002-2005. He is the son of Jack and Sandy Cutler and has two younger sisters.

Contents

[edit] High School career

Jay Cutler attended Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Indiana. There he amassed a combined 26 - 1 record for his junior and senior years, including a perfect 15-0 in his senior year. Some of his stats that year included 31 touchdowns, outscoring opponents 746-85, and a 90-0 shutout at Pike Central. He also added to his team's defense by intercepting 9 passes that year, 12th overall in the state. His team's perfect record that year included the school's first 3A state championship, where Heritage Hills won over Zionsville in overtime, 27-24. After lateraling it to the halfback, Cole Seifrig, who then passed it, Cutler caught a pass in the endzone to end the game. It was Seifrig's 4th touchdown pass of the season. [1]

[edit] College career

While at Vanderbilt, he started in over 40 consecutive games as quarterback and was named Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week and All-SEC several times. For the 2005 season, he earned the SEC Offensive Player of the Year title after completing 273 of 462 attempted passes for 3073 yards and 22 touchdowns. He finished his college career with a total 8697 passing yards.

In 2002, Cutler set the school record for touchdowns and rushing yards by a freshman and rushed for more yards than any other SEC quarterback that year. By 2004, he had achieved high rankings in nearly every category relevant to his position as quarterback. In that year, he completed over 60% of his passes with over 125 attempts, the highest percentage with 125+ attempts that had ever been achieved by a Commodore.

The 2005 season, his final year of play at Vanderbilt, was his most impressive. He led the Commodores to victories over Wake Forest, Arkansas, Mississippi, Richmond, and Tennessee. The Commodores also scored the second most points ever scored against Florida at their current home field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. They nearly upset the 13th-ranked Gators before falling 49-42 in second overtime. Reflecting on Cutler's college career, Denver Broncos safety John Lynch later said, "If this guy can take a bunch of future doctors and lawyers and had them competing against the Florida Gators, this guy is a stud." [2]

The Commodores ended their season, and Cutler's Vanderbilt career, against the Tennessee Volunteers with a 28-24 win, their first victory over the Volunteers since 1982, the year before Cutler was born. The win also marked Vanderbilt's first victory over Tennessee on the Volunteers' home field in Knoxville since 1975. [3] Cutler's final play in college was the game-winning (and streak-ending) touchdown pass to teammate Earl Bennett.

[edit] NFL Draft

Cutler was expected to be a high draft pick in the NFL Draft, and was ranked by many experts as the third-best quarterback prospect, after Matt Leinart of USC and Vince Young of Texas. Some mock drafts as recent as April 1, 2006, had projected him as being selected ahead of Leinart. Still, other experts such as ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Ron Jaworski tabbed him as the best quarterback available in the draft. Many scouts believe he has better arm strength than either Young or Leinart, but still needs to develop his decision making. At the draft Combine, he completed 23 repetitions of a 225-pound bench press (more than some linemen) and ran a 40-yard dash in 4.77 seconds. [4]

After attracting interest from the Oakland Raiders, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, and Baltimore Ravens, Cutler was surprisingly selected by the Denver Broncos with the 11th pick in the draft, after the Broncos acquired the pick from the St. Louis Rams for their 15th and 68th overall picks. Cutler said after the draft that "I literally hadn't spoken to Denver in two months." Cutler, as predicted by most, became the third quarterback chosen, after Young (3rd overall) and Leinart (10th). Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young called Cutler the best QB in the draft: "Jay Cutler is the top quarterback because of the fact that he is the best football player.... More than any other player on the board, Jay Cutler is going to come in and be a football player and a great quarterback." [5] He is the 3rd first round pick to come from Vanderbilt, preceded by Will Wolford and Bill Wade. Cutler agreed to terms on a six-year contract on Thursday, July 27, 2006 worth $48 million.

[edit] Professional career

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, 2006, Shanahan officially announced that Cutler would replace Jake Plummer as starting quarterback because, as Shanahan said, "I think he gives us the best chance to win now."[6][7]. This announcement capped weeks of speculation and rumors about Cutler's impending promotion to a starting role.[8]

Cutler's regular-season debut was a 23-20 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks on a frigid night on December 3. Cutler completed 10 of 21 passes for 143 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, one returned by Darryl Tapp for a touchdown. Cutler gained some redemption in the fourth quarter with a 71-yard TD pass to Brandon Marshall, also a rookie, which tied the game 20-20. However Cutler did not get the chance to complete the comeback as the Seahawks would kick the game-winning field goal in the game's final seconds.

Cutler's first win, 37-20, came in his third start at Arizona. He finished with 21-for-31 with 261 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception; one of the touchdowns was a 54-yard throw to Javon Walker on the Broncos' third play of the game. The throw traveled 65 yards in the air. 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." [9]

Jay Cutler then led the Broncos to a win over the Cincinnati Bengals. He went 12 for 23 including 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. His best play occurred in the third quarter when he directed the Broncos in a 99 yard drive that culminated in a Mike Bell 2 yard touchdown run.

As a result, Cutler became only the second rookie quarterback to throw more than one touchdown in each of his first four starts. He is the first to accomplish this since Dan Marino's 1983 rookie season[10] , and the first rookie quarterback to throw more than one touchdown in each of his first four games played.

The Broncos' quest to clinch a playoff berth came up short the following week when they fell at home 26-23 in overtime to the San Francisco 49ers on the final week of the season. The loss dropped the Broncos to 9-7 overall and an uncharacteristic 4-4 record at home. Despite sustaining a concusssion in the 1st half, Cutler finished 21 of 32 with 232 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 played, Cutler finished with a record of 2-3 and went 81 for 137 for 1,001 yards, 9 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, earning a passer rating of 88.5 in the process.

The 2007 NFL season will mark Cutler's first full season as the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos.

[edit] Trivia

  • Holds all-time career Vanderbilt records in total offense, passing yardage, touchdown passes, completions, and attempts.
  • Does volunteer work to mentally challenged young people through Vanderbilt's "Best Buddies" program.
  • Is a big fan of country music singer Gary Allan, and is regularly seen backstage at Allan concerts in the Denver area. [1] [2]
  • Cutler's first career NFL touchdown pass occurred on December 3, 2006, to tight end Stephen Alexander in a 23-20 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
  • Cutler's first career NFL win came on December 17, 2006 with a 37-20 victory at Arizona against the Arizona Cardinals.
  • Cutler threw a 71 yard touchdown to Brandon Marshall in his debut. This is one of the longest TD passes in a debut in NFL history.
  • Cutler broke Dan Marino's record as he became the first QB to throw for 2 or more touchdowns in each of his first four starts.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] College

College statistics (Vanderbilt)
Passing Rushing
Year CMP ATT YDS CMP% YPA TD INT SACK EFF[11] ATT YDS AVG TD
2002 103 212 1433 48.6 6.8 10 9 17 112.4 123 393 3.2 9
2003 187 327 2347 57.2 7.2 18 13 16 127.7 115 299 2.6 1
2004 147 241 1844 61.0 7.7 10 5 24 134.8 109 349 3.2 6
2005 273 462 3073 59.1 6.7 21 9 23 126.1 106 215 2.0 1

[edit] Pro

Passing Stats
Year Team G-Z W-L Passing
Att.-Comp.		 Yards Pct. TD Int. Long Sacks-
Yards Lost		 QB Rating
2006 Denver 5-5 2-3 137-81 1,001 .591 9 5 71 13-85 88.5

[edit] References

  1. ^ 2000 Indiana high school finals. IHSAA. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  2. ^ Judy Battista (2006-12-31). With Eye on Playoffs, Broncos Turn to Cutler. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
  3. ^ Football History. VandySports.com (Rivals.com network). Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
  4. ^ nfldraftcountdown.com.
  5. ^ Josh Bacott and Pat Imig (2006-10-28). Pigskin Detention: how to speak "pundit"-ese. Cold Hard Football Facts. Retrieved on 2006-11-13.
  6. ^ Denver Post Staff. "Cutler's promotion official", Denver Post, 2006-11-27. Retrieved on 2006-11-27.
  7. ^ Andrew Mason (2006-11-27). Cutler to Start. Denver Broncos. Retrieved on 2006-11-27.
  8. ^ Mike Organ (2006-10-27). False start: Shanahan rips Cutler debut report. The Tennessean. Retrieved on 2006-11-04.
  9. ^ Bob Baum (2006-12-15). Denver 37, Arizona 20. Associated Press via Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  10. ^ Lee Rasizer. "Cutler's calm catching", Rocky Mountain News, 2006-12-27. Retrieved on 2006-12-27.
  11. ^ NCAA passing efficiency ratings per The ORIGINAL Quarterback Rating Calculator. Note that NFL passer ratings are calculated quite differently.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Jake Plummer		 Denver Broncos Starting Quarterbacks
2006-		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
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