It looks like free-agent quarterback Rex Grossman finally found a home for the 2009 season on Thursday. The Houston Chronicle and Drew Rosenhaus' Twitter page are reporting that the former Bears signal-caller will sign a one-year, $620,000 contract pending a physical on Friday. The team hasn't made any comment, citing a policy of not commenting until a deal has been officially signed.
If Grossman indeed joins the Texans, it would be a surprising change of direction for Houston.
Rex Grossman seems nice enough. But the NFL scrap heap is littered with swell guys who couldn't keep their jobs. There are worse fates -- like being David Carr, the former first-overall pick with a ridiculous nickname, who is just passable enough to make the 53-man roster every summer, but will never see the field except for preseason and blowouts -- but it also means that Grossman's NFL days might be behind him.
At 28, he should be entering his prime. Instead, the Bears' 2003 first-round pick is sitting on his couch wondering if he'll get another chance. On the upside, Byron Leftwich and Dante Culpepper were in the same predicament a year ago. Now they're both in line for starting gigs, and Leftwich even got a Super Bowl ring as a backup last season.
"I don't care who we gotta play. I really don't. If we're going to be World Champions, we gotta beat them all in some form or fashion, anyway... I embrace tough schedules. Hopefully, we'll always have a tough schedule because I think if we're able to see our way through it like we were this past year, it strengthens you for January football."
After the draft, the NFL schedule release party is the biggest event of the offseason -- at least to hear the NFL sell it to us. For football-starved fans, it doesn't take much, so if NFL Network devotes two hours to scrutinizing the just-released 2009 schedule, well, I'm all for it. In fact, here's a look at some potentially big matchups, at least from the perspective of April.
Kyle Orton doesn't have Jay Cutler's franchise quarterback pedigree. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 draft, two years after the Bears had invested a first-round pick in Rex Grossman. And, from the beginning, his role was clear: a raw, strong-armed talent, who would spend the first few seasons on the bench learning the nuances of what it means to be an NFL quarterback.
That lasted up till the moment Grossman broke his ankle in a 2005 preseason game. At the time, head coach Lovie Smithtold the AP that "I don't know exactly who there is out there but we like the guys we have right now ... Chad Hutchinson is a good player, we feel comfortable starting him, and Kyle Orton continues to shine as far as we're concerned."
I've taken time to check out many message boards and comments sections across the internet. What I'm finding, for the most part, is that fans of teams other than the Bears think this is a terrible deal. Their "evidence," though, is usually incredibly flawed. Here are some of the reasons people think the deal is poor for the Bears, followed by my rebuttals.
Jay Cutler is headed to Chicago. According to the Broncos' official website, Denver has agreed in principle to trade Cutler to the Bears. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the Bears will send the Broncos their 2009 and 2010 first-round picks, a 2009 third-rounder and Kyle Orton in exchange for their first real quarterback since Erik Kramer threw for nearly 4,000 yards in 1995. The Bears also receive a 2009 fifth-round pick from Denver.
CHICAGO -- So the Summer Olympics must be coming in 2016. And a minefield of potholes soon will be magically filled. And the Cubs will win a World Series for the first time since, oh, your grandparents' grandparents were double-dating in Henry Ford's Model T. And those wicked, face-eating winters will be replaced by pleasant, sunny, balmy, gorgeous ... all right, I'm obviously overcome by shock.
I don't know about you, but when one of my bosses urgently needs me, he either calls or yanks me by the earlobe into his office. We're still waiting for Pat Bowlen to have such contact with Jay Cutler, which shocks me. For a quarter-century, Bowlen has been among the dynamic owners in American sports, a primary reason why the Denver Broncos have been an elite NFL franchise.
With the not-so-shocking news that the Broncos and Jay Cutler will be filing for their inevitable divorce, more than a handful of teams in the NFL will surely be trying to get their hands on the Pro Bowl signal-caller. Apparently, the Bears are among those who will be in hot pursuit.
I have been very critical of Bears' brass in the past, namely general manager Jerry Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith, when it comes to building an offense. They sure know their defense, but for every Matt Forte there is a Rex Grossman (he was a first-rounder, remember?) or Cedric Benson (fourth pick overall). Should they pull off a deal for Cutler, though, I'd gladly eat crow.
Cedric Benson is coming back to Cincinnati. The deal -- two years, $7 million -- is a far cry from the $17 million guaranteed over three years Cedric received from the Bears to begin his NFL career back in 2005, but it beats sitting at home and waiting for the phone to ring, too.
On Tuesday, the Bengals re-signed the former Texas running back after having plucked him from obscurity last September. The Bears had released Benson for on-field ineffectiveness and off-field silliness, but he had a resurgence of sorts in Cincy. In 12 games, Benson rushed for 747 yards (3.5 average yards per carry) and two touchdowns.
Houston, we have a Sex Cannon! 
Rex Grossman
"I don't care who we gotta play. I really don't. If we're going to be World Champions, we gotta beat them all in some form or fashion, anyway... I embrace tough schedules. Hopefully, we'll always have a tough schedule because I think if we're able to see our way through it like we were this past year, it strengthens you for January football." 
Kyle Orton
CHICAGO -- So the Summer Olympics must be coming in 2016. And a minefield of potholes soon will be magically filled. And the Cubs will win a World Series for the first time since, oh, your grandparents' grandparents were double-dating in Henry Ford's Model T. And those wicked, face-eating winters will be replaced by pleasant, sunny, balmy, gorgeous ... all right, I'm obviously overcome by shock.
I don't know about you, but when one of my bosses urgently needs me, he either calls or yanks me by the earlobe into his office. We're still waiting for 
With the not-so-shocking news that the Broncos and 
Cedric Benson
