It Should Be About the Fans

You know what, I don't give two shits about Jay Cutler and his crying about being traded. It never bothered me at all. I like Cutler as a quarterback and I was even kind of hoping that he might get traded to the Redskins, but that didn't work out and I will give 100% of my support to Jason Campbell. Cutler probably makes the Bears a little better, and I think that Denver got the better of the deal, with getting a first and third round pick this year and a first next year, not to mention Kyle Orton, who isn't a bad quarterback.

But here is my beef. In making this deal, the teams didn't think about the fans. Sure the teams' fans may be happy, but the true NFL fans. You know, the fantasy football players. This deal kills Cutler's value for fantasy next year. Quick, name a wide receiver for the Bears. I said quick, don't look it up. Cutler was a Top Five fantasy quarterback. Don't scream and shout, I said Top Five fantasy quarterback, I don't care about where he ranks in real life.

Say Cutler had been traded to the Redskins. He would have Santana Moss, Randle El, Cooley, and two really good young receiver in Kelly and Thomas. Cutler would have dropped off a little because of Portis, but Cutler would have only added to the value of Portis, Moss, and Randle El. Maybe he makes the Bears receivers a little better, and I am still waiting for you to name one, but they were so far down to begin with that it would only bring them up to middle of the road value.

The trade does help Orton's value a little bit, but he really doesn't have big fantasy potential. Orton is a get it done type of quarterback and the stats may be there, they may not. I think his value does increase, because of the system that he will be in. I am a little concerned about Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, but I think that the thought that there value will drop actually makes them pretty good value. In the end, even I think that the Broncos won the real life trade and fantasy trade.

Fantasy football is a $1 billion dollar business and teams need to begin to realize that the moves that they make affect that business. It is hard enough to field a good team in a deep league because there are so much position sharing and middle of the road guys that it is getting harder and harder to field a solid team. That, of course, is what makes fantasy football so much fun, but still they need to quit making it even harder. Like it or not, the NFL's popularity is tied heavily to fantasy football. It is not a big surprise that the NFL started gaining in popularity and fantasy football began gaining popularity.