Cutler's Last Request In Denver Was To Keep Bates
(WSCR) Jay Cutler's fallout from Denver is well-documented.
What might not be as well-documented, however, is exactly what pushed the quarterback over the edge before he asked to be traded.
"I do know this," Mike Klis of the Denver Post told The Mully and Hanley Show, "when it all hit the fan for the Broncos after 2008, Cutler's one request was that Jeremy Bates stay."
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Following the 2008 season that led to the firing of longtime head coach Mike Shanahan, Cutler wanted one thing -- to keep the quarterbacks coach he worked with when he set the Broncos' franchise passing record en route to the Pro Bowl.
After the Broncos denied his requested and hired Josh McDaniels as the head coach, Cutler wanted out.
"The whole fallout between Cutler and the Broncos was really about Jeremy Bates," Klis said. "When the Broncos fired Shanahan, first of all, Cutler said, 'I want out.' Because he like Shanahan. Then he said, 'Well, you better bring back Bates.' We thought when the coaching candidates came out that Josh McDaniels would be the last guy they would hire because, at the time, he was a 32-, 33-year-old offensive coordinator, and Jeremy Bates was a 32-, 33-year-old offensive coordinator. So, why hire someone you already have? Well, it turned out they hired Josh McDaniels. I don't think management here liked the relationship between Bates and Cutler. ... Cutler really liked Jeremy Bates, and that led to his fallout here in Denver."
