Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler said Sunday night that he will not report to the team’s first meeting on Monday and has formally asked to be traded.
“I went in there with every intention of solving the issue, being a Bronco, moving forward as a Bronco,” Cutler said. “We weren’t in there but about 20 minutes, [McDaniels] did most of the talking and as far as I’m concerned, he made it clear he wants his own guy. He admitted he wanted Matt Cassel because he said he has raised him up from the ground as a quarterback. He said he wasn’t sorry about it. He made it clear that he could still entertain trading me because, as he put it, he’ll do whatever he feels is in the best interest of the organization.
“At the end of the meeting, he wasn’t like, ‘Jay, I want you as our quarterback, you’re our guy.’ It felt like the opposite. He basically said that I needed to tell him if we can’t work this out, to let him know,” Cutler added. “I thought he was antagonizing me and that was disappointing because I was ready to move on, committed as a Bronco. Really, I figured we’d hash things out, shake hands, laugh a little and move forward. What happened was the last thing I expected. If I didn’t think it could be fixed, I never would have come back to Denver. It was painfully obvious to me it’s not something they wanted to fix.”
Consequently, Cutler instructed Cook, who also attended the meeting, to formally request a trade. The quarterback said he left town late Sunday and would skip McDaniels’ first team meeting on Monday as they begin their off-season program.
Bus Cook, Cutler’s agent said that he was “totally in shock” that it has gotten so ugly.
“I would have bet my house going into Saturday’s meeting that everyone would be shaking hands and smiling,” Cook said. “I thought it was going to get worked out. But it was very clear to me that Jay Cutler is not their choice to be quarterback of that team.”
Yet Cook admitted that when he called Sanders to request a trade on Saturday night, the team’s general manager said it wasn’t going to happen and that “Jay should show up Monday.”
Jay showing up Monday isn’t going to happen, either.
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