Posted Feb 28th 2009 3:45 PM by Ryan Wilson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Broncos, Buccaneers, Lions, NFL Free Agency, NFL Rumors
Matt Cassel is the big story of free agency thus far, but it's not from lack of trying on the Bucs' part. On Friday, Tampa Bay traded for tight end Kellen Winslow. And today, via NFL Network's Adam Schefter, we learn that they were trying to talk the Broncos out of Jay Cutler, presumably an idea they came up with after dropping a lot of acid.

Tampa approached Denver to try to make a three-way trade that would have sent Cassel to the Broncos and quarterback Jay Cutler to the Buccaneers. The Broncos entertained the notion and pondered it but ultimately decided against it. ...

The Broncos firmly maintain that they never intended to trade Cutler, that they were approached to make the trades. But, as of Saturday afternoon, Cutler was angry to hear that his name had been floated in any trade conversations.

I don't blame the Broncos for listening -- that doesn't cost anything -- even if Cutler wasn't jazzed about the news when he found out. (Philip Rivers, on the other hand, fully supports the trade.) He'll get over it. But here's my question (and maybe Jay will feel better after considering it): why would the Broncos be interested in a quarterback (Matt Cassel) that the Bucs were trying to pawn off on them? I mean, if Cassel's so great, why wasn't Tampa Bay working a deal for him?

There's more intrigue, however, this time courtesy of the Lions.

Also, the Lions approached the Broncos about a trade for Cutler, trying to dangle Cassel as bait. Once again, Denver debated the deal and opted against it apparently. What made it a moot point was that while all Tampa, Detroit and Denver engaged in trade talks with New England, the Patriots went ahead and dealt Cassel to the Chiefs.

Huh. So Detroit, a team in desperate need of a quarterback, has no interest in Cassel -- even though he's NFL ready -- and now face the specter of using the first-overall pick on Matthew Stafford or, hell, Mark Sanchez? Curious.

By the way, I sure hope things work out for the Bucs this season, because they've basically turned the roster upside down since Raheem Morris, 32, was named head coach and Mark Domenik, 37, got the general manager gig. If things go south early, some people might wonder if these two are in over their heads.