A Cutler above

By the time his last Senior Bowl practice had wrapped up in January, the NFL draft's magic carpet had already whisked Jay Cutler away.

The Miami Dolphins wanted the Vanderbilt quarterback for another 45 minutes of interviews. The Tennessee Titans' coaching staff had scribbled out a final list of things for him to work on. Scouts, coaches and personnel men had spent days buzzing about his raw talents. Even his Senior Bowl teammates – many of whom had never heard of Cutler before practicing with him – clamored for the cell phone number of the week's most popular player.

When it was over, there was little doubt. Like Troy Williamson, Philip Rivers and Dewayne Robertson the last three years, Cutler had taken the crown as the draft's fastest rising commodity.

"What happens with a guy like Jay, he's at Vanderbilt, so all the scouts went there and they know who he is," Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage said. "Then he (goes to the Senior Bowl) and more people from the league see him. All of a sudden, other coaches are there and they see him. And they say, 'OK, this guy from Vanderbilt is pretty good.'

"He certainly has the size. He's got the arm strength. He's got the mobility."

And now Cutler has the buzz to rival Matt Leinart and Vince Young, giving the 2006 quarterback class the top-heavy hype of 2004 (Eli Manning, Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger) or even 1999 (Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith). But while Leinart and Young have spent the last two years cementing themselves as the top two quarterbacks in this draft, Cutler's coming-out party has just started.

Despite having the respect of coaches in the Southeastern Conference for years, Cutler is just getting acquainted with the upper layers of NFL management.

"I'll be quite honest with you – not every team in the league has studied him yet," said Titans coach Jeff Fisher, who coached Cutler at the Senior Bowl. "They're going to look and see that he's got a lot of the intangibles that you need to play in this league."

Scouts have raved about Cutler's arm strength, his mental toughness and the fact that he stuck with playing quarterback at Vanderbilt despite having many schools recruit him as a safety (Purdue and Indiana backed off at the last minute).

While his size (6-foot-3, 223 pounds) suggests a pure pocket passer, Cutler has deceiving mobility. He played some option as a freshman and sophomore and faced nearly constant pressure as a junior and senior, so he knows how to move and throw under pressure.

Pick a flattering quarterback label and Cutler has it – smart, tough, durable, cocky, etc. Those qualities have lent to generous comparisons to names like John Elway and Brett Favre – both in a positive and negative manner.

Like Elway, Cutler was never able to lead his team to a bowl game and, because of a lack of surrounding talent, he has developed the habit of relying on a strong arm to squeeze balls into tight spots. Like Favre, Cutler has the reputation of being a bit of a gambler, but in the same vein, he has shown plenty of courage for being mentally tough.

"One of the things that's overlooked when you're evaluating quarterbacks (is that) Jay Cutler playing at Vanderbilt is a lot different than Matt Leinart playing at USC," Savage said. "If (Cutler) goes to a team that's struggling, it's not going to be a new thing for him, whereas it could be for a Matt Leinart or a Vince Young. They won virtually every game during their careers. I think (struggling with Vanderbilt) is a positive for Jay."

It helps that Cutler showed improvement every year and was an accurate passer his last two seasons, completing 61 and 59 percent of his throws – the former being a Vanderbilt record. Cutler finished his senior year with 3,073 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions for the Commodores, who started 4-0 but stumbled to a 5-6 record largely due to a defense that squandered close games down the stretch against South Carolina (35-28), Florida (49-42) and Kentucky (48-43).

In fact, those three losses – and a season-ending 28-24 win at Tennessee – were an astounding testament to Cutler's ability. In that four-game span, Cutler went 121-for-196 (61.7 percent) for 1,410 yards, 13 touchdowns and only three interceptions. And in all four instances, he mounted some kind of late comeback to keep Vanderbilt alive.

That might explain why you can spend a day sampling league opinions and have stories abound about Cutler's competitive nature. Like the time the Commodores were having issues converting extra points, and a frustrated Cutler pulled aside head coach Bobby Johnson and asked if he could attempt the kicks (Johnson said no). Or the time in 2004, when University of Tennessee linebacker Omar Gaither absolutely flattened Cutler in the pocket, then stood above him jawing and taunting. An irate Cutler – still lying on the ground – responded by trying to kick Gaither.

"You won't see him play scared," an AFC scout said of Cutler. "He's got (guts). That's going to get him into some trouble (in the NFL) when those windows he's throwing (into) close a lot faster. He'll learn it the hard way, but that's a better problem to have than with a guy who is afraid to let it rip."

That certainly wasn't a problem at the Senior Bowl. Most who watched Cutler remarked how he was throwing the football at 100 miles per hour in every situation.

Said Savage: "It's obvious someone said to him, 'Hey, throw every ball as hard as you can to impress the NFL people.' "

But that strength is something coaches are trying to refine. Cutler is not as polished or NFL-ready as Leinart, and he doesn't have the bundle of raw potential and athleticism of Young. In a way, Cutler is a balance of the two – with better arm strength than Leinart and the tools to run a more conventional offense than Young. Still, the average pass protection he experienced in college has translated into some issues with his mechanics and footwork.

The problems manifested themselves when Cutler topped off a strong practice week with a subpar outing at the Senior Bowl. In the game, he ended a strong opening drive with an end-zone interception and finished 6-of-19 for 69 yards with a touchdown and a pick. The performance revealed what scouts already knew: Cutler still needs coaching to work out the kinks in his pocket posture, and he still needs to take fewer risks.

"Who doesn't have those kinds of issues?" Fisher asked. "That's what (the Senior Bowl and workouts) are for. We've got to be careful about changing techniques and over-coaching. You want to let him play. The good part with what we've seen from Jay (is that) he's been able to change. From one day to the next, you worked on some things and you (saw) the difference.

"And he sees the difference – the difference in keeping his shoulders level and making a comeback throw. When his shoulders are up, the ball sails, but when his shoulders are down, the ball is on target. He understands. That's what we've been impressed with."

Now it's up to Cutler to keep those impressive reviews piling up at next week's scouting combine in Indianapolis. While there's no clear indication whether Leinart and Young will be throwing for scouts, Cutler is expected to go through all of the drills. For now, he appears to be solidly within the draft's top 10 picks, and he could move higher with good workouts.

The Dolphins have been eyeballing him, and there could be as many as six teams among the top-10 picks looking for another young quarterback – the New Orleans Saints (No. 2), Titans (No. 3), New York Jets (No. 4), Oakland Raiders (No. 6 or No. 7), Detroit Lions (No. 9) and Arizona Cardinals (No. 10). Many insiders think the key will be the San Francisco 49ers, who will land either the No. 6 or No. 7 pick via a coin flip at the combine. If the 49ers get the No. 6 spot, the feeling in league circles is that they will be looking to trade down with a team that covets Cutler.

But for now, he has clearly established himself as the draft's hot property and the best quarterback option beyond Leinart and Young. Where Jay Cutler goes from here, nobody knows.

"I think I can offer as much as either of those guys," Cutler said of his more esteemed draft rivals. "Hopefully, I can show that to everyone before the draft."