Leinart vs. Cutler

[aaawall91]

Lets also not forget Edge is no scrub when it comes it the pass game, as he was in Indy's offense for many years.

[steelerfan513]

Leinart. Why? Fitz and Boldin.

Just to play devil's advocate - Why not? His O-Line. Denver Line >>>>>>>>Arizona Line.

That balances out any advantage Fitz/Boldin have over Walker/Smith.

But like I said earlier, I think both will have fine years.

That's the reason I don't have Cutler ranked too far below Leinart. Boldin, Fitz, and Bryant Johnson is a great trio, but Walker, Brandon Marshall, Brandon Stokley, and Rod Smith isn't a lot worse, and the offensive line in Denver is a lot better than the line in Arizona. I think the new coaching staff will help the offensive line in Arizona, but Leinart still isn't vastly better than Cutler. I'd still rank him higher than Cutler because everyone assumes he will be better, but I'd rather take Cutler because you can get him later and get similar numbers.

[moonhead]

leinart is the easy, sexy pick because of his receivers. denver is a more complete team. so i think cutler will have less yards, less tds, and less interceptions...due to the fact that they will be competitive and can run the football. leinart will rack up yards and tds as well as interceptions, for the simple fact that they will be playing from behind quite a bit, and the fact that they are pretty ineffective with the rushing game.

$.02 fwiw i think they score about the same fantasy points.

[mattb47]

Leinart. Why? Fitz and Boldin.

Just to play devil's advocate - Why not? His O-Line. Denver Line >>>>>>>>Arizona Line.

That balances out any advantage Fitz/Boldin have over Walker/Smith.

But like I said earlier, I think both will have fine years.

That's the reason I don't have Cutler ranked too far below Leinart. Boldin, Fitz, and Bryant Johnson is a great trio, but Walker, Brandon Marshall, Brandon Stokley, and Rod Smith isn't a lot worse, and the offensive line in Denver is a lot better than the line in Arizona. I think the new coaching staff will help the offensive line in Arizona, but Leinart still isn't vastly better than Cutler. I'd still rank him higher than Cutler because everyone assumes he will be better, but I'd rather take Cutler because you can get him later and get similar numbers.

Actually....I'd say that Fitz/Boldin/Johnson >>>>>>>> Walker/Marshall/Stokely/Smith. I don't think it's even close in favor of the first trio of WRs...that's by far a more talented group. The offensive line in Arizona will improve this year from last with a new coaching staff that will actually pay attention to getting it whipped into shape as is already evidenced by them taking a OL in the first round of the draft to play on Leinart's blind side.

Cutler is on a run first team with one very good WR and the rest are just pretty good and really, I don't think he'll be a guy that puts up the big fantasy numbers just because they're always going to focus on the run before the pass. I'd take Leinart far before Cutler at this point....I think Leinart could be a decent #1 for a fantasy team this year while I wouldn't want Cutler as anything more than a backup.

[maddog60]

I'm going to go with Cutler, but only for this season.

While I would rather have Leinart in a dynasty in a heartbeat, I think Cutler has a slight edge this season. Leinart has all the tools but the most important one, a line. While I think Whiz & Grimm will start revamping that immediately, I think there's too much work to be done, and the Arizona offense is a year off from exploding into a Colts/Bengals like fantasy gold mine.

Cutler on the other hand has a solid team formed around him, and will never be asked to carry the team completely as Shanny always relies on his great cutback scheme to carry the offense. While this same reason will limit Cutler's upside, it will allow him to achieve success earlier, and I see him having a Phillip Rivers like season this year. I see Leinart having a year much like Carson Palmer's 2nd. We'll see flashes of the fantasy juggernaut to come, but he'll be carrying that team too often, and won''t have the proper defense/protection for that to be a good thing.

[knapplc]

Cutler nothing more than a backup? Really?

The guy threw 9 TDs in five games. He has 27+ TDs if you extrapolate that to an entire year.

His 2007 schedule is as soft of a schedule as you'll ever see. He has two games against KC, two against Oakland, and games against Houston, Green Bay, Minny, Indy and Detroit. He also has two games against San Diego, against whom he threw two TDs last year - and that was only in his second game behind center in the NFL.

I don't see Cutler as nothing more than a backup this year. Not hardly.

[mattb47]

Cutler nothing more than a backup? Really?

The guy threw 9 TDs in five games. He has 27+ TDs if you extrapolate that to an entire year.

His 2007 schedule is as soft of a schedule as you'll ever see. He has two games against KC, two against Oakland, and games against Houston, Green Bay, Minny, Indy and Detroit. He also has two games against San Diego, against whom he threw two TDs last year - and that was only in his second game behind center in the NFL.

I don't see Cutler as nothing more than a backup this year. Not hardly.

Oh knapp....you should know that extrapolating stuff doesn't work over a course of a year if you only use 5 games....that never works out like that. I'm not saying he doesn't have a chance of putting up numbers worthy of a fantasy starter but I certainly wouldn't want to depend on him as my #1 this year and given a choice between these two guys I would take Leinart easily.

And some of those "easy" games you listed wont be all that easy. Try taking out Oakland who had the league's #1 pass defense last year and Indy who had the #2 pass defense last year. SD had the #13 pass defense last year and Green Bay was only 17. The only truly poor pass defenses on that list are Minnesota, Detroit, Houston and KC and even then Minnesota only gave up 15 pass TDs all year last year (4th best in NFL) and KC only gave up 18 pass TDs last year. In fact, if you average all those games you mentioned (including KC and Oak x 2 games), those defenses only gave up an average of 18.8 passing TDs last season which is good for 12th best in the NFL. And that's easy how?

[Timbathia]

I am really undecided on Cutler this year, and it is probably because as a Broncos supporter my thoughts are clouded somewhat....

However, Plummer used to put up pretty good numbers despite Denver always being a run first team. This is partially because of the play-action and also the fact that Shanny likes these silly little passes to the TE or FB in the red-zone. Cutlers arm strength >>>>>> Plummers arm strength, which may mean more big plays. Walker is better than anything that Plummer ever had to work with, and Graham/Scheff are the best pass-catching TEs that Denver have had since Sharpe retired.

Yes there is a danger that Denver will get in front early in some games and grind out a low yardage/point scoring win, which is why Cutler isnt going to be drafted in front of Peyton anytime soon (well, maybe there are other reasons too). But, the o-line is not as effective as it used to on the run, so I dont think they will be able to do that too regularly. Cutler can be a top ten FFL QB easily (since Plummer somehow ended up there on several occasions) but if I had to start him or Leinart early in the season I would say Leinart, since we still havent seen enough of Cutler to know how he will handle the pressure this year (and it will be starting to mount as Coloradoans have high expectations already).

[mrblitz]

Leinart. Why? Fitz and Boldin.

It's as simple as that, I do think that both have at least 15 int's also.

[Timbathia]

Leinart. Why? Fitz and Boldin.

It's as simple as that, I do think that both have at least 15 int's also.

I dont mean to offend anyone - but this is a cop out of a reason.

Fitz and Boldin are better than New Orleans receivers, Seattles receivers, Phillys receivers, New Englands receivers and you can maybe even make a case for St Louis's receivers. Indy and maybe Cinci are the only teams with better receivers, yet you guys arent trying to make a case for Leinart being better than Brees, Hass, McNabb, Brady or Bulger (or are you).

I dont think it is anywhere near as simple as "Fitz and Boldin" and I would venture to say that the reason is more to do with Arizona being a team that is ineffective at running the ball as well as being a team that will be behind a lot more than Denver.