A decades-long pursuit for a franchise quarterback might lead to the Washington Redskins making a trade for disgruntled Denver Broncos QB Jay Cutler.

The Redskins were actively pursuing a trade for Cutler on Wednesday, reports The Washington Post, citing NFL sources. The Examiner in Washington also cites an NFL source as saying the trade is “going down as we speak.”

The NFL source told The Post that Redskins owner Dan Snyder has been pushing for the trade. However, the Redskins are declining to comment.

The Redskins figure to be competing with the Buccaneers and Jets at this moment, but Washington does have one advantage — it has a starting NFL quarterback, Jason Campbell, to dangle in a trade. Often lost in the Cutler trade talk is who will be the Broncos’ starting QB in 2009. Four NFL.com editors kicked around that issue in an Instant Debate.

Redskins executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato and coach Jim Zorn publicly denied interest in Cutler during the annual NFL owners meeting last week. But that might just mean they are smoother than Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and coach Josh McDaniels when talking about potential trades.

The Post updated its initial report by saying the Redskins offered Campbell to an undisclosed team for a second-round draft pick. The Redskins are believed to be acquiring picks to build a package for Cutler. That could indicate that the Broncos don’t want Campbell and might be comfortable with Chris Simms or a rookie in the upcoming draft as their starter.