The Miami Dolphins have signed QB Jay Cutler to a one-year deal after the injury to QB Ryan Tannehill. Here’s five reasons why Miami can make the playoffs.
After a potential season-ending injury to Miami Dolphins’ QB Ryan Tannehill, many thought the season would be lost. But here comes QB Jay Cutler, out of the press box, to potentially save the Dolphins’ season.
Here’s five reasons why Miami can still return to the playoffs with Cutler as their starting quarterback.
5. Jay Cutler has one of the best arms in football
Cutler can be a lot of things. In the locker room, his personality and attitude is often up for question. Other teammates question his leadership ability, while analysts question his football IQ and ability to avoid dumb mistakes.
But one thing that every pundit agrees with in relation to Cutler is that he has an amazing hose. Cutler can throw the football with the best of them, starting from his days at Vanderbilt.
Among the starting NFL quarterbacks, Cutler probably has one of the five best arms in the league. On any given Sunday, the Dolphins’ quarterback can throw it like Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford.
That’s always a plus for a quarterback, especially for a free agent, this late into training camp. Backup Matt Moore doesn’t have this kind of arm and neither does starter Ryan Tannehill for that matter.
With deep-threat receivers up and down the roster, Cutler’s arm could be the difference for one big play that can turn around a game. Those one or two deep plays could really take the top off of an offense and lead them to the playoffs.
4. Jay Cutler can play in a warm-weather city
Alright, so for this reason, I figured I’d think a little outside the box. For a majority of Cutler’s career, he’s played in Denver and Chicago. This means that most of the games in November and December are usually in the snow, rain and inclement conditions. That leads to more mistakes from a quarterback that doesn’t need any more reason to create errors.
Now, fast forward one year and Cutler is going to be playing in Miami. What does this mean? For eight games of the season, the Dolphins’ quarterback will be playing in beautiful, warm weather. Their away games also include San Diego, Atlanta and Minnesota, which are either warm or indoor stadiums.
That means only five games of the entire year, Cutler will be playing in poor, cold conditions. For a quarterback that’s 34 years old, it will be beneficial playing in a warm-weather city. On Sundays, Cutler can just go out and play football, not having to worry about playing in Chicago snow. It also makes those recovery Mondays a lot easier, when he can get back to full health in South Beach, rather than snowy Illinois.
This might not have a direct, statistical influence on Cutler, but trust me, he’ll enjoy playing in warm Miami, rather than cold Chicago.
3. Jay Cutler can lean heavily on a strong running game
Similar to what RB Matt Forte was for Jay Cutler in Chicago, RB Jay Ajayi can be exactly the same for him in Miami.
The Dolphins were one of the best rushing teams in 2016 and they should look to continue that team this upcoming season as well. A year ago, it was very balanced offense that featured 405 running plays in 912 total plays total. A majority of those rushes came on the backs of Ajayi, who rushed for 1,272 yards on 260 carries. He also ended up in the end zone eight times last season.
It was huge for Ryan Tannehill, who was able to develop a lot of their offense off of play action, with Ajayi rushing for huge gains on first down.
Cutler should be able to follow a similar formula next season with Gase and Ajayi. I’m sure it’ll be a run-first offense that will look to wear down defenses. In the process, it’ll allow Cutler to become more comfortable as the season goes along.
This could mean that Cutler will have a high completion percentage on short throws, letting his receivers make plays on play action. It will also keep the ex-Bears’ QB from throwing bad interceptions and keeping the MIA offense on the field.
2. Jay Cutler will have really good weapons in Miami
During his time with Chicago, Cutler primarily had wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery. Although both are Pro-Bowl caliber pass-catchers, Marshall and Jeffery had issues staying on the field together. While Marshall was more reliable, Jeffery had his fair share of injuries and suspensions.
In Miami, Cutler will have better skill position players than what he had in Chicago. The Dolphins return receivers Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker, while adding Isaiah Ford and Damore’ea Stringfellow. They also have a shiny new tight end in Julius Thomas for Cutler to throw to in third-down situations.
Landry has established himself as one of the best wide receivers in the game. While he’s not on the level of close buddy Odell Beckham Jr., Landry is still amazing in his own right. Stills has developed into a home-run threat and Parker is a young stud.
Cutler won’t have to elevate the team to the level that Aaron Rodgers has to with the Green Bay skill players, because there’s a solid group of receivers and tight ends. That’ll be a key reason why the Dolphins can make the playoffs with Cutler as their signal caller.
1. The Jay Cutler-Adam Gase connection
The most obvious reason why Jay Cutler could lead the Miami Dolphins back into the playoffs is because of the head coach in Miami: Adam Gase.
Prior to leaving for the Dolphins’ head coaching job, Gase was the offensive coordinator in Chicago, where Cutler flourished. Although the Bears went 6-9 with Cutler as their starting quarterback in 2015, it was one of his best seasons as a signal caller in the NFL.
Cutler’s completion percentage of 64.4 percent was second-best of his career, while his touchdown to interception ratio of nearly 2:1 was also a career-best. It was also the only season of his career that he had a passer rating of at least 90.
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Gase created an offensive system in Chicago for Cutler that was run-first and allowed Cutler to thrive off of that. Naturally, head coach and quarterback are the two most important positions in an NFL franchise. With the prior rapport between the two, it’s easy to see that they can lead the Dolphins back to the playoffs in 2017.