Jay Cutler's two-year contract extension, which reportedly will earn him $30 million in new money ($20 million guaranteed), didn't come as much of a surprise to our sources. Almost immediately after Cutler was traded to the Bears on April 2, the consensus was that it was a virtual certainty he would sign a new deal before his first season was over. That said, there were many who assumed it could be well into the season before the team felt comfortable enough to make an expensive new long-term commitment to its new quarterback. "Clearly, though, they had already seen all they needed to see," said one team insider of Cutler, who he believes has made at least 2-3 throws in every game up to now that only the league's most elite QBs are capable of making. "He's been far from perfect, especially inside the red zone, but he's absolutely already proven to be by far the team's most talented quarterback in years. And he makes everybody else around him better, too."

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