Early this month, the Chicago Bears paid a high price to end a long search for their franchise quarterback. The deal, which sent Jay Cutler to the Bears in exchange for Kyle Orton and a slew of draft picks, generated strong opinions regarding whether the price paid by the Monsters of the Midway was too high or simply the going rate for a quarterback of Cutler’s stature.
Eyebrows were raised when the Bears met the Broncos' demand of two first-round picks (No. 18 in 2009 as well as the Bears’ No. 1 in 2010) in addition to a flip-flop of third- and fifth-rounders this year – plus Orton. Most NFL executives treat draft picks, especially early ones, like bars of the purest gold, and the Bears paid a steep price.
So who got the better end of the Cutler trade?
We posed this question to fans on Scout.com via the web poll on the front page of the network’s NFL home page, and nearly 5,000 of you responded over the last week.
Your conclusion? By a narrow margin of 47.8 percent to 43.4 percent, Scout.com visitors felt the Broncos' bounty of draft picks had the edge. 8.8 percent of visitors felt it was a fair trade, with both teams getting equal value.
The closeness of the results illustrates just how critical the position of quarterback is considered to be in today’s NFL. After all, Scout visitors are essentially saying a proven Pro Bowler of a quarterback is roughly the equivalent of a talent injection of two first-rounders in the draft plus a veteran passer with a lesser arm. But if Cutler leads the Bears to a Super Bowl win, fans won’t have much of a concern over the price the team paid.
This week, visit Scout.com’s NFL home page to show your prognostication skills as we ask visitors, “Which draft pick will be the first to be invited to the Pro Bowl?”
Agree? Disagree? Discuss these topics on our message boards RIGHT HERE.
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