Jay Cutler to the Vikings?

According to the most recent reports, the Minnesota Vikings may be leading the rush to get Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos.

As you may recall, the Broncos were looking to sign Matt Cassel from the New England Patriots before they were beaten to the punch by their hated rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jay Cutler gaffed at the fact that former New England coordinator and new Broncos coach Josh McDaniels wanted to acquire a starting quarterback to replace him.

After losing the battle for Cassel, McDaniels assured the press (in an attempt to assure Cutler), "We don't want to trade Jay. We never did. He's our quarterback."

Really? Then why were you pursuing Cassel?

Cutler has a right to be mad. He was a Pro Bowl selection after his performance last season. Granted, the Broncos only finished 8-8 and failed to make the playoffs, but Cutler's success at the QB position hasn't been seen in Denver since John Elway.

Minnesota, on the other hand, just signed a new QB in Sage Rosenfels. He was brought in to provide some competition for Tarvaris Jackson for the starting job next season.

Getting Cutler makes sense for a couple of reasons. Unlike Rosenfels, he is young and can fit well into a run-first system.

Cutler threw 25 touchdowns last year, but also threw 18 interceptions. Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor may quell Cutler's need to make plays down the field, resulting in fewer mistakes.

The Vikings and owner Zigi Wilf are looking to buy another big name, and as ESPN.com's NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert points out, "The Vikings, compared to other teams in the league, spend next to nothing on the quarterback position."

The Vikings came up short of signing T.J. Houshmanzadeh yesterday, so we know they are looking for a marquis player. The former Cincinnati WR signed a large contract with the Seattle Seahawks.

Sure, the Vikings are weak at the WR position, but with a QB of Cutler's quality, the Vikings wouldn't be forced to go out and sign a big name WR to complement Bernard Berrian.

Whether or not Cutler is going to be dealt remains to be seen, but one would have to think that the Vikings have plenty of leverage to sign him.

Minnesota is arguably a QB of Cutler's quality away from making a deep run in the playoffs. The next few days of the Cutler saga will be fun to watch, and I think Minnesota fans will have their ears perked.