strngplyr

It's different when you're spending a 3rd round pick for a guy 2 years older, a contract 2 years shorter, and if you're trading for him its probably to be your starter and you'll probably have to pay him a bit more than a normal 3rd round draftee.

IllegalContact

Mallett is not going anywhere

__________________
“ I think good coaches will coach with the personnel they have, and if you only have one (good) linebacker, you’re not going to play a 3–4. ”
—Hank Bullough, who installed one of the first 3–4 defenses with the New England Patriots.

ivanvamp

Mallett is equivalent to a QB prospect with a really good college stat sheet in a major conference, that may have had some baggage a couple of years ago but that seems to be ancient history. He's a little older than most QB prospects, but that is offset by the fact that he's had 2 years to learn from Brady and Belichick.

I think it's fair to say that if he was in the current NFL draft, he'd be a 3rd round pick, especially given that it's a weak class.

So my suggestion was that the Pats give the Vikings - a QB-starved team - Mallett and a 2014 3rd round pick (not that the Vikings would surrender the pick...they receive it) in exchange for a guy (Harvin) that has less than a 1% chance of playing for Minnesota next year. The premise is that the Vikings will try to trade Harvin anyway, because he's not coming back to play for Minnesota next year. But because he has only one year left on his contract, teams will be leery of trading for him without an extension (and what an expensive extension it would likely be). Most teams don't have much cap space to swing a deal with the extension, and they wouldn't be likely to trade for him as a one-year rental. So the market for Harvin via trade is not very big, I would think.

The Patriots have the cap space to sign Harvin to an extension. They have a positional need.

They can offer Minnesota (a team that really needs a good QB) a 3rd round QB talent and a 3rd round draft pick in exchange for a guy that Minnesota desperately needs to trade away or risk losing with nothing in return, yet for whom a trade market is probably pretty thin.

It probably won't happen, but it's not because it's a ridiculous idea.

ivanvamp

Yes, those are definite factors. You also get a guy whose only issues coming out of college were character issues, and those appear to be ancient history at this point. He also has had 2 years of NFL seasoning under the best coach and QB in the league, so he's far more prepared to play than Matt Barkley, who some team will spend a 1st round pick on.

Nunchucks

Why trade him for a 3rd round pick? At that price, he is worth more on the Patriots.

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IllegalContact

this whole notion is practice squad-worthy

if he's worth anything, then he's worth it for the pats to keep him.......it doesn't matter that brady got extended....he's on the wrong side of 35. so if something bad happens and he can't make throws, you're going to hand it over to a couple of sucks like cassel and hoyer? whatever is gained by trading mallett would be meaningless.....at that point, I wouldn't even waste a roster spot on a backup.......just put edelman or mesko out there.....it won't matter as this team would take the same kind of dive the colts did when manning went down. at least with mallett, there is enough not known that gives him the chance to be better than cassel and hoyer plus whatever you got for mallett.....mallett at least presents the POSSIBILITY that the pats could still perform at a high level....with cassel or hoyer? can't even beat the jets

__________________
“ I think good coaches will coach with the personnel they have, and if you only have one (good) linebacker, you’re not going to play a 3–4. ”
—Hank Bullough, who installed one of the first 3–4 defenses with the New England Patriots.

Dagg

I dont think Harvin gives us the height and deep threat we need. He's 5'11 runs a 4.4 more of a space player not a deep threat outside WR.

Urgent

A quarter of the teams in the league do that every year when they draft a quarterback.

Mallet has proven very little. Gabbert, Henne, Skelton, et al have proven that they cannot win in the NFL.

The question on whether some of those QB's need to be replaced has been answered. Let's say three teams end up with Alex Smith, Geno Smith, and Matt Barkley. Then there are another four or five teams with empty musical chairs. The next question is whether they are better off with Mallet or Tyler Wilson, Ryan Nassib, Landry Jones, or the other second-tier QB's in this draft or better off using that pick in exchange for someone who worked under Brady for a couple years.

At Arkansas, Mallet put up 3869, with 32 TD's and 12 INT's. He's been developed for two years with the Patriots. That has to be more attractive than most of the QB's in this draft.

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BrickPat

We went through the same thing with Hoyer. Many fans were confident the Pats could get a high pick for him in a trade simply because he performed ok in his limited game time and that he studied under BB/Brady. Teams weren't exactly tripping over each other a month later when the Pats cut him. IIRC Hoyer is the clipboard holder to the clipboard holder in Pitt(?)

Granted Mallet has a higher upside but most of that is simply because he is an unknown at the pro level.

yopats

I'm surprised that nobody had mentioned the possibility of Cleveland the team with the most glaring need. (Insert Lombardi Conspiracy)

The dark horse team could be Tampa Bay..Schiano and BB were inseparable at the combine this week. Schiano has gone on record stating his annoyance with Josh Freeman.