The Best Deal Never Made

As I was sitting in Vegas last Sunday watching the Redskins/Bears game, I almost spit out my $12 beer when I read the above tweet. I want to say something right away, technically the Bears did not “top” the Redskins bid. Also, I was never in favor of a trade for Jay Cutler. The Bears traded two lower 1st round picks and only one 3rd rounder for Jay Cutler. Somehow, Vinny Cerrato was so bad at his job that he couldn’t convince the Bears that an extra 3rd round pick and 1st round picks that ended up being #13 and #4 overall (as opposed to #18 and #22 overall)was the better deal.

Mister Irrelevant just blogged about the Cutler trade and summed it up best when Jamie Mottram said the following in describing Cerrato’s inability to pull of the deal:

Thankfully, he failed at failing. It was probably the best thing he ever did.

That rings especially true when you realize just how ugly the trade would have been for the Redskins. To put it in the simplest terms possible, the Redskins would have traded Brian Orakpo, Trent Williams, Donovan McNabb, Kevin Barnes and next years 3rd round pick for Cutler. While Kevin Barnes and a 3rd rounder next year sound like fair compensation for Cutler, the rest sounds a bit excessive…to put it mildy.

The Redskins would have Jay Cutler and his lifetime 45% winning percentage as a starting QB.

The Redskins would not have Donovan McNabb and his lifetime 65% winning percentage.

The Redskins would not have Brian Orakpo, one of the best defensive players in the game and a perenial Pro Bowl player.

The Redskins would not have Trent Williams to protect the QB’s blindside for the next decade.

This could’ve turned out bad Redskins fans, really bad. Well, maybe not so bad if the trade went thru and the Redskins changed DeAngelo Hall to a wide receiver…

Cheers and Hail