Cutler’s season officially over–surgery Saturday

Jay Cutler’s 2016 season is now officially over, and it seems very likely that his career with the Bears is over as well.On Thursday the team announced Cutler would miss the remainder of the year and undergo surgery on a torn labrum, which will result in him being placed on injured reserve.Matt Barkley is the guy moving forward for the Bears, who are going nowhere fast at 2-9 and host the 1-10 49ers on Sunday in a game that has implications for positioning near the top of the 2017 NFL Draft.There’s a very good chance that Cutler is no longer with the Bears next year. The dead money on his contract drops from $19 million — which made him essentially uncuttable coming into the year — to $2 million, which makes him imminently cuttable, especially when his cap hit is $16 million.It’s entirely possible that Cutler remains the Bear’s the best available option in 2017, even at a pretty high price, given what’s considered a weak QB class in the draft. There could be some big names in free agency, like Kirk Cousins, but it’s not guaranteed.John Fox is no guarantee to be around next year, either, and a new coach could potentially favor Cutler. We’ll assume it won’t be Josh McDaniels, who originally traded Cutler to the Bears in the first place.Assuming that, there are some pretty solid landing spots for the former first-round pick, who will have his pick of teams and will likely be looking for a would-be contender. The Browns and 49ers need a quarterback but won’t want to pay Cutler and Cutler won’t want to play there.The team he’s likely most interested in won’t have any competition at the quarterback position. This is where the Dolphins get tricky.Sponsored By Lowe’s Make Your Home Happy Find quality appliances, paint, patio furniture, tools, flooring, hardware and more for all your home improvement needs at Lowe’s.He’ll need an offensive coordinator or head coach who empowers him and is someone either he’s worked with previously or someone willing to let him be Jay. Again, the Dolphins get tricky.Here are seven candidates: With some help from colleague Sean Wagner-McGough, who broke down four options previously for Cutler, here’s a list of seven teams that could be options for the grizzled veteran, from least to most likely.