Devin Hester: Jay Cutler's Biggest Fan
Bears receiver insists Cutler is a good teammate
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Why isn't Jay Cutler letting a teammate stretch him? Ominous!
Since Jay Cutler arrived in Chicago, there has been a small but determined minority of people less enthusiastic about the trade than most. Most Bears fans see the trade for what it is -- an incredibly exciting move by a team that finally said enough, we're not playing with retread quarterbacks anymore, and pushed their chips to the middle of the table. In return, they got one of the league's best quarterbacks.
But the naysayers don't see it that way. Kyle Orton was good enough for them, and most of all, he was a "good teammate," something Cutler apparently is not. Why not? Because of the way he maneuvered himself out of Denver. When you think about it, Cutler's removal was not unlike any normal person attempting to seek a transfer to a different office in order to get away from a boss he didn't like. If you did this in your workplace, would you be a bad fellow employee?
Anyway, the naysayers have ranged from Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey to Tony Dungy to Mike Ditka, all of whom question Cutler's leadership abilities. Now, Devin Hester has responded. As you might imagine, Devin kindly disagrees. Take it away, Devin:
"If you haven't been around a person like Cutler, how could you say something like that? ..."Can't judge a book by its cover," Hester said. "If you haven't sat down and talked to him, how could you say something like that? He's calm in the huddle. He makes us laugh and he jokes around before the ball is snapped. That's the kind of quarterback who is relaxed and says, 'Let's play ball.' ...
OK then. We're sure Cutler appreciates the team support -- if he's such a bad teammate, he's doing a pretty good job of disguising it so far -- but Hester's defense is hardly final.
Ryan at Mouthpiece Sports brings up a good point
: How does Devin know Cutler's a good teammate? From a few OTAs? From the occasional route-running exercise? From Cutler's diplomatic media management?
It's still very early in this process. Neither side, not those eager to see Cutler blow up on a teammate nor those who want him to flourish with a natural social ease, will have their verdicts anytime soon. That's going to take a season or two to decide. In the meantime, we all get to watch a really talented guy sling the football around. I guess we can manage the wait.
Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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Posted Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 4:05 PM CST
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