San Francisco 49ers
New 49ers general manager John Lynch has continued to indicate he’s not looking for a short-term fix at quarterback. That’s fine and dandy, but the team continues to be linked to veterans. Recent reports suggest that both Matt Schaub and Brian Hoyer are possibilities here.
A lot of this will depend on what happens with Colin Kaepernick. He’s expected to opt out of his contract and has a meeting set with San Francisco’s new brass. It will surely be interesting to see what comes of that.
What we do know is that San Francisco will likely be in the market for a veteran quarterback. It has already been linked to both Kirk Cousins and Jimmy Garappolo. Though, each of those options would take a much larger investment in terms of cash and draft pick compensation heading the other way.
With Cutler, the 49ers could potentially get away with offering a late-round pick to the Bears. It would enable him to be a stopgap option in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. And based on how much Matt Ryan improved under Shanahan in Atlanta, it’s not unreasonable to believe Cutler could have a career renaissance of sorts in Northern California.
San Francisco boasts $80-plus million in cap room. It could conceivably take on Cutler’s current contract for a season or two without much of a long-term impact against the cap. In reality, this seems to make a whole lot of sense.