Jay Cutler

Jay Cutler

Cutler during the 2011 NFC championship game
No. 6
Quarterback
Date of birth:	April 29 1983 (1983-04-29)
Place of birth:	Santa Claus, Indiana
Height: 6 ft 3 in	Weight: 231 lbs
National Football Debut
2006 for the Denver Broncos
Last appearance
2017 for the Miami Dolphins
Career information
High school:	Heritage Hills (IN)
College:	Vanderbilt
NFL Draft:	2006 / Rnd: 1 / Pck: 11th
Career history
Denver Broncos (2006-2008) Chicago Bears (2009-2016) Miami Dolphins (2017)
* = offseason / practice squad only
Career highlights and awards
Pro Bowl (2008) First-team All-SEC (2005)*
Player stats at NFL.com

Jay Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is a former American football Quarterback . He played football at Vanderbilt University. Cutler began his professional football career with the Denver Broncos, who selected him as the 11th overall pick of the 2006 NFL Draft. He spent three seasons with the Broncos before he was traded to the Bears in 2009. He spent the next eight years before being released by the bears.

Following the 2016 season, Cutler announced his retirement and his intention to became a sportscaster for NFL on Fox's television broadcasts. However, following a season-ending injury to Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill in August 2017, Cutler came out of retirement and signed with the team.

Early years

Jay Cutler was born in Santa Claus, Indiana. Cutler attended Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Indiana. He started three years at quarterback, amassing a combined 26–1 record in his junior and senior years, including a perfect 15–0 during his senior year. Cutler and his team outscored opponents 746–85, including a 90–0 shutout at Pike Central. During his senior year, Cutler connected on 122-of-202 passes (60.4%) for 2,252 yards with 31 touchdowns, while rushing 65 times for 493 yards with 11 touchdowns. He also started at safety for three years, intercepting nine passes as a senior, 12th overall in the state. His team's perfect record during his senior year included the school's first 3A state championship, where Heritage Hills beat Zionsville in overtime, 27–24. The most notable play of the game occurred when Cutler lateraled the ball to the halfback, Cole Seifrig, who then passed it to Cutler who ran it into the end zone.

Cutler was named a first-team All-State selection by the Associated Press as a senior. In addition to playing football in high school, he was a first-team All-State selection in basketball and garnered honorable mention All-State accolades as a shortstop in baseball.

Jay Cutler grew up as a Chicago Bears fan during his youth in Indiana.

College career

Cutler attended Vanderbilt University, where he started all 45 career games that he played for the Commodores, the most starts by a quarterback in school history. He did not miss a game due to injury. The Commodores were 11–35 during his tenure, including going 5–27 versus the SEC. In 2002, Cutler set the school record for touchdowns and rushing yards by a freshman and rushed for more yards than any other Southeastern Conference quarterback that year. The Associated Press honored him with a first-team freshman All-SEC selection. In 2004, as a junior, Cutler completed 61.0 percent of his passes, setting a school record, while throwing for 1,844 yards with 10 touchdowns and a career-low five interceptions.

File:2004 Vanderbilt-Navy Game QB Jay Cutler.jpg

Cutler being sacked by Navy linebacker Jeremy Chase

The 2005 season, Cutler's final year of play at Vanderbilt, was his most successful. As an 11-game starter, he completed 273-of-462 passes (59.1%) for 3,073 yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions, as he became the first Commodore to win the SEC Offensive Player of the Year (coaches and media) since 1967. With his senior-season performance, Cutler became the second Commodore to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a season, while his 273 completions and 21 touchdowns ranked second on the school’s single-season list. He led the Commodores to victories over Wake Forest, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Richmond and Tennessee. The Commodores also scored the second most points ever (42) laid upon the Florida Gators at their current home field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Vanderbilt nearly upset the 13th-ranked Gators before falling 49–42 in the second overtime after a controversial excessive celebration call prevented the Commodores from going for 2 at the end of regulation. Reflecting on Cutler's college career, former Denver Broncos safety John Lynch said, "If this guy can take a bunch of future doctors and lawyers and have them competing against the Florida Gators, this guy is a stud."

The Commodores ended their season, and Cutler's Vanderbilt career, at Tennessee against the Tennessee Volunteers with a 28–24 win. The victory was Vanderbilt's first 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. Cutler passed for three touchdowns and 315 yards during the game, becoming the first quarterback in school history to record four consecutive 300-yard passing performances. Cutler's final play in college was the game-winning (and streak-ending) touchdown pass to teammate Earl Bennett against Tennessee. A finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (nation’s top senior quarterback), Cutler was a first-team All-SEC pick by the league’s coaches and led the conference with a school-record 3,288 yards of total offense.

While at Vanderbilt, Cutler was a three-year captain and four-year starter, setting school career records for total offense (9,953 yds.), touchdown passes (59), passing yards (8,697), pass completions (710), pass attempts (1,242) and combined touchdowns (76).

Cutler graduated from Vanderbilt in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in human and organizational development.

Awards and honors

• The Sporting News third-team freshman All-American (2002)
• Associated Press first-team freshman All-SEC (2002)
• First-team All-SEC (2005)
• SEC Offensive Player of the Year (2005)
• Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist (2005)

Records

Vanderbilt University school career records:

• Total offense: 9,953
• Touchdown passes: 59
• Passing yards: 8,697
• Pass completions: 710
• Pass attempts: 1,242
• Combined touchdowns: 76

Statistics

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

Professional career

2006 NFL Draft

All values from the NFL Combine

Pre-draft measureables

Ht	Wt		40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP Wonderlic
6 ft 3¼ in	226 lb	4.77 s	1.61 s	2.79 s	4.31 s	7.12 s			23 reps	26

Cutler was expected to be a high draft pick in the 2006 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, but behind Young. Still, other experts such as ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Ron Jaworski tabbed him as the best quarterback available in the draft. Many scouts believed he had better arm strength than Young and Leinart, and compared him to Brett Favre for his arm, play style and gunslinger attitude. At the 2006 NFL Scouting Combine, Cutler completed 23 repetitions of a 225-pound bench press (more than some linemen) and ran a 40-yard dash in 4.76 seconds.

After attracting interest from the Oakland Raiders, the Detroit Lions, the Arizona Cardinals and the Baltimore Ravens, Cutler was selected by the Denver Broncos with the 11th pick in the draft, after the Broncos acquired the pick from the St. Louis Rams by trading their 15th and 68th overall picks. Many believed Cutler was chosen by the Broncos due to the lackluster performance in the previous season's AFC Championship Game by then-starting quarterback, Jake Plummer. After the pick by Denver, Cutler said, "We had no warning. I think I knew about 15 seconds before everyone else did." Cutler, as predicted by most, became the third quarterback chosen, after Young (3rd overall) and Leinart (10th). He is the third first-round pick to come from Vanderbilt, preceded by Will Wolford and Bill Wade. On July 27, 2006, Cutler agreed to terms on a six-year $48 million contract, which included $11 million in bonuses.

Volunteer work

Cutler does volunteer work for young people with developmental disabilities through Vanderbilt's "Best Buddies" program.

During the 2007 offseason, Cutler started the Jay Cutler Foundation, which partnered with Mile High United Way’s Youth Success Initiative to help at-risk youth overcome obstacles and graduate from high school.

On May 1, 2008, Cutler announced that he had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and needs daily insulin shots. He is responding well with the insulin treatments.

Cutler works with Dedicated to Diabetes, which is a Denver-based organization that aims to improve public knowledge about diabetes.

For the 2009 season, Cutler teamed up with Eli Lilly and Company. For every touchdown pass Cutler threw during the 2009 season, Lilly sent a child to diabetes camp by donating $1,000 to the ADA’s “Camp Scholarship” fund—roughly the cost of providing tuition for one child to attend a week of diabetes camp. For every pass Cutler completed in 2009, Lilly donated $100 to the ADA Camp Scholarship fund to allow even more kids the chance to attend camp the following summer.

Awards and honors

The Sporting News third-team freshman All-American (2002)
Associated Press first-team freshman All-SEC (2002)
First-team All-SEC (2005)
SEC Offensive Player of the Year (2005)
Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist (2005)

Career statistics

Year	Passing																	Rushing
	Team	G	GS	W	L	Comp	Att	Comp %	Yds	AVG	YPG	TD	Int	Long	Sacked	Rate		Att	Yds	Avg	TD
2006	DEN	5	5	2	3	81	137	59.1	1,001	7.3	200.2	9	5	71	13	88.5		12	18	3.6	0
2007	DEN	16	16	7	9	297	467	63.6	3,497	7.5	218.6	20	14	68	27	88.1		44	205	4.7	1
2008	DEN	16	16	8	8	384	616	62.3	4,526	7.3	282.9	25	18	93	11	86.0		57	200	3.5	2
2009	CHI	16	16	7	9	336	555	60.5	3,666	6.6	229.1	27	26	71	35	76.8		40	173	4.3	1
2010	CHI	15	15	10	5	261	432	60.4	3,274	7.6	218.3	23	16	89	52	86.3		50	232	4.6	1
2011	CHI	10	10	7	3	182	314	58.0	2,319	7.4	231.9	13	7	56	23	85.7		18	55	3.1	1
Total		78	78	41	37	1,541	2,521	61.1	18,283	7.3	234.4	117	86	93	161	84.5		221	883	4.0	6

Records

Vanderbilt University school career records: Total offense: 9,953
Touchdown passes: 59
Passing yards: 8,697
Pass completions: 710
Pass attempts: 1,242
Combined touchdowns: 76