Lions Should Protect Their Assets in Cutler Deal
NFL Picks | by Mike O'Hara | 04.1.2009/7:00AM
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If the Lions are going to dive into the trade market and attempt to land Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, they have to protect their plan to build for the future at the same time they acquire a quarterback for the present.
Cutler was put on the trading block Tuesday night by Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, after nearly two weeks of fruitless attempts by the franchise to contact Cutler.
Cutler has been upset since learning that the Broncos tried to acquire former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel. Cassel wound up in Kansas City, but the Broncos’ attempt created an irreparable split with Cutler.
The Lions have more than enough assets – chiefly, the first pick in this month’s draft and some other high picks – to make a deal for Cutler. But they cannot simply keep dumping draft picks on the pile until the Broncos finally cave and give them Cutler.
The Lions also have the 20th pick overall, the first pick on the second round and two third-round picks. How many of those picks would the Broncos want? Great question, and the answer will come when the bidding starts with other interested parts such as the Jets, Bucs and Bears.
If I were Lions GM Martin Mayhew, I’d stand pat and take Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford with the first pick.
But if the trade is going to be made, there has to be a way to make it more palatable.
If the Broncos insist on the first pick overall – to guarantee drafting Stafford – then the Lions should counter by asking for the Broncos’ first—round pick – No. 12 overall – in return as a starting point.
That won’t balance the deal for the Broncos. They’ll still need more. I’d offer the lower the Lions two third-round picks this year, and a third or fourth next year.
Still no deal? Then how about a player – defensive end Dewayne White, but withdrawing one of the draft picks from this year.
That would make the package look like this: The Lions get Cutler and the 12th pick on the first round. The Broncos get the first pick overall, Dewayne White and a third-round pick next year.
The Lions might have to add to the package – but nothing more from this year’s draft class.
They have to give Jim Schwartz, their new head coach, the tools to build a foundation. That cannot be done by stripping out the draft picks just to get a quarterback – especially one who apparently is as thin-skinned as Cutler, and who has never been a winner in college or the NFL.
If the Lions don’t trade for Cutler, they’re still sitting in a good spot – with all their draft picks this year, and the opportunity to draft Stafford, a young quarterback who wants to play in Detroit.
The bottom line: the old like that some of the best trades are the ones you don’t make fits the Lions right now as the Cutler sweepstakes begin.
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