Last year Jay Cutler threw for 4,526 yards, third most in the NFL. In his first three seasons as “the next John Elway” he’s thrown for 9,024 yards and 54 touchdowns. He needs to cut down on his 37 interceptions but he’s without question the best quarterback Denver has seen since the Hall of Famer retired.

Over the weekend it was reported that Denver’s rookie coach Josh McDaniels floated – or was at least willing to listen to – offers from Detroit and Tampa Bay that would have sent Cutler away.

Those reported deals would have reunited McDaniels with New England backup Matt Cassel.

Now, McDaniels has been doing some backtracking. According to the Denver Post via the Associated Press, he said “We don’t want to trade Jay. We never did. He’s our quarterback.”

And Cutler has taken the hurt feelings a bit too far. He needs to realize that trade talks happen in football like grade padding happens in college. But one must wonder what McDaniels was thinking when he answered calls from Detroit, Tampa and any other NFL franchise seeking his fourth-year quarterback with anything but a “thanks, but no thanks.”

The numbers Cutler has put up during his first three seasons – some of them ammassed while fighting undiagnosed diabetes – arguably already put him in the top half-dozen or so quarterbacks in the NFL. Even if he has peaked, as some reportedly are concerned, you can win with a guy who throws for 4,500 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Remember, the Broncos went 8-8 last year, getting edged by San Diego for the AFC West division championship after losing the last three games. But that had more to do with injuries to 26 running backs and the third-worst scoring defense in the league (448 points allowed).

Denver scored 370 points on offense. By comparison, Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh scored 347 – they just had a defense that allowed fewer than half the points the Broncos managed to allow.

Furthermore, had McDaniels pulled off the deal to land Cassel, he would have been trading for a guy who didn’t start in college, has played one admittedly very solid season in the NFL, and who on the strength of that season has been franchised at nearly $15 million for the 2009 season.

This isn’t to be critical of Cassel. I have my doubts about whether or not he can match what he did last year for New England this year with Kansas City, but that has more to do with coaching and the talent around him. He was very good last year and he has a chance to be a very solid quarterback.

But he’s capitalizing on that to a ridiculous degree. According to Sports Illustrated reporter Peter King, who appeared on the Dan Patrick radio show this morning, many teams are having problems with the idea of paying Cassel what he is going to get. Understandably so – he’s franchised at the moment at nearly $15 million.

All of these factors fall into the camp of keeping Cutler at all costs. Factor in his popularity with the Denver Broncos fans and I’m left wondering just what Denver’s new coach could possibly have been thinking.