Jay Cutler is at peace with retirement.
If there was any question about whether the ex-Bears quarterback would dash from the FOX Sports TV booth for a starting job midseason, Cutler quashed the speculation on Friday.
"Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I think so," Cutler said on WMVP-AM's The Waddle and Silvy Show in Chicago, when asked if his move to broadcasting was permanent. "It is. I don't really see anything else happening. I'm happy with where I am, you know, in my life and really in the future going forward. So, yeah, we can go ahead and say it. It's permanent."
Cutler later added he plans to file official retirement papers -- but admitted he doesn't really understand what that entails: "I don't even know what that means. Do you get a medal or a prize or something?"
Cutler joins a three-man booth with FOX's Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis. His first assignment will be an Aug. 27 preseason game between the Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears.
Cutler noted that if he were not cut by the Bears, he would have played in Chicago in 2017, putting off retirement.
The 34-year-old said when the idea of a broadcasting career was first floated he thought "there's no way in hell I'm doing this. This is literally the last thing I want to do."
With no team willing to give him a chance at a starting quarterback gig, Cutler's mind changed on becoming a broadcaster. That doesn't mean he won't get the itch to play.
"There is zero doubt in my mind that there is going to be some regret," Cutler said of retiring. "... I have no doubt in my mind come the middle of August, September there is going to be that itch to play. There is going to be part of me that I know I can still do it. But that's now how the cards played out, and that's not where we are at. I just don't feel comfortable with a situation in August or September of jumping back into it, even if that situation arises, which I don't think it's going to."
The last note rings as the most poignant: No starting opportunities were coming Cutler's way.
Like with most NFL players, the league essentially retired Cutler, not the other way around.
As for Cutler's new gig, if he is as candid as he was in Friday's radio interview, he'll be fine in the FOX booth. An example of his dry sense of humor: When asked about how his kids are now that he's watching them more, the ex-quarterback quipped, "Alive."
Giddy-up on the Cutler broadcasting career.
