Bears' new QB brings ego and explanations to W&M camp

WILLIAMSBURG

As lead characters in sports dramas, NFL quarterbacks rock. They don't even have to be any good. They just have to be.

NFL quarterbacks fascinate (Brett Favre), infatuate (Mark Sanchez) and infuriate (Donovan McNabb). They are pure (Peyton Manning), mature (Kurt Warner) and unsure (Vince Young).

It seems a sports week hardly passes, in or out of football season, where some NFL quarterback isn't being adored (Tom Brady) or abhorred (Michael Vick).

So it is that Jay Cutler, one of this offseason's A-list quarterback protagonists, turned up Monday at William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock's annual football camp.

Say this, Laycock's contact list, through his ties with a certain sports equipment behemoth, is worth cash money, and his timing is uncanny.

Last year, the guest quarterback who spent a morning lobbing passes and chatting up campers was Favre, who had decided to un-retire but who wouldn't yet admit it to a breathless nation.

While the manipulative Favre is at it again, Cutler's tale of ego and effrontery has also fed the bottomless blog and sports-media maw for months.

Cutler, recall, is the fourth-year player and one-time Pro Bowler who basically held his breath and stomped until he got what he wanted - specifically prompt and permanent transport away from the Denver Broncos.

The conflict: rookie coach Josh McDaniels considered trading for New England's Matt Cassel when he was hired away from the Patriots in January. The resolution: when he found out, the indignant Cutler, 26, forced a deal to the Chicago Bears for quarterback Kyle Orton and draft picks.

"When Mike Shanahan got fired, it kind of started tumbling from there," Cutler said of Denver's former coach. "They brought Josh McDaniels in there, and we had a good relationship starting off, and then it all kind of fell apart.

"I went to the Pro Bowl last year, and you'd think that's probably gonna be the place where you're gonna stay the rest of your career. So it's funny how things work out."

The ensuing adventure colored Cutler's profile, depending upon how much power you believe players under contract should have.

He's either a thin-skinned whiner with a big arm - 4,526 yards and 25 touchdowns in '08 - who doesn't win; Denver was 17-20 in his starts. Or he's already a savvy, hard-bitten pro who looks out for No. 1 to a fault.

"Yeah, it's very rare for a player to want to get traded and for it to work out the way it worked out," Cutler agreed. "It's kind of a victory for the player.... If they want to trade you, we have no say in where we're going or who we can talk to. So I got lucky that I was able to wind up in Chicago."

Cutler's luck is that, as a Bear, he's part of a franchise desperate for offensive excitement. As such, he's a huge deal in Chicago and poised to be a bigger one.

Yep, he's brash, seems full of himself, and is an immature "risk" as a leader, according to former coach-turned-commentator Tony Dungy. Cutler's also a Type I diabetic who visits hospitals and inspires similarly affected fans with his example.

For sure, there's little bland or blase about the guy. We'll see soon enough how much the drama actually becomes him.

"Looking back, I'm sure there are things (Denver) would do differently, and there's some things I would do differently," Cutler said. "It worked out for both of us in the long run. I think they're happy with the situation. And I couldn't be happier in Chicago."

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com