Cutler and Offense Will Practice In Next Week or Two

[DABEARSDABOMB]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=team...ts-2011-nfl-chi

 

Thought this article was really good. Big talking point is that Cutler was quoted as saying the offensive side of the ball will be working with each other shortly. Basically that something is planned but he didn't get into specifics. Also has a ton of quotes related to the draft. Pretty solid off-season summary article in general.

[defiantgiant]

I agree with their assessment of Carimi. He might not be a Pro Bowl left tackle, and there's an outside chance that he might not even stay at left tackle, but the absolute worst-case scenario is that he's a 10-year starter at right tackle, and he'll be an above-average player from Day 1. He's probably got the lowest ceiling of any of the top 5 tackles this year (except arguably Castonzo,) but he's got the highest floor by far. Smith, Solder, Castonzo, and Sherrod all come with significantly more risk than Carimi does. I'm still hopeful that he can plug in on the left side and allow Webb to stay at RT, but I like the pick even if he can't.

 

Also, I like the quote from Martz on Cutler:

As for quarterback Jay Cutler, Martz had nothing but praise for his ability and toughness.

 

“He’s resilient,” Martz said. “He’s going to pop back up (after being hit). And he really adjusts very well in games. Jay is very special. He hasn’t even touched on what he can be yet. I know he feels good about where he is as a player, but I’m not even sure he knows how good he could be.

 

“To me, he could be the very best in the league right now. Absolutely. We just have to get him there. There are some things we need to clean up. But he’s on his way.”

I know Martz talks up everybody on offense like they're going to the Hall of Fame, but I think this is for real. The two things that Martz prizes in a quarterback more than anything else are toughness and intelligence. Not arm strength, not mobility, not all the physical things that everybody knows Cutler has. He loved Jon Kitna in Detroit, because Kitna was a run-through-a-wall kind of player, even if he wasn't the world's most gifted quarterback. So it's heartening to me that, every time Martz praises Cutler in the media, he's talking about how tough the guy is and how smart he is, not necessarily about how much talent he has. We all know Jay's talented, but it's good to hear Martz say that he's got the mental makeup to be a great QB in this offense.