E Belichick Unum

I don't know, I think $20 is a lot of money, so $20M is unfathomable. I am assuming that Cassel will not be a Patriot on March 1 and that the Patriots will tag him and trade him in a 24 hour period. Besides, if they tag him today and he sign the tag tomorrow, they are on the hook for that money even if he is hit by a car. If something did happen to Matt, and he was lost for the season, that money still applies to the cap.

It makes all trhe sense in the world to minimize that potential liability and wait until the last minute.

DNR

This would be my opinion.

It would only make sense that they give Cassel and other teams as much time as possible to work out an agreement. This would most likely speed up the trade process, and minimize the time that they are handcuffed by the 14+ mill Franchise tag amount.

I expect it will be announced by tomorrow, followed quickly by the first of many Tom Brady "setback" rumors we are guaranteed to hear.....

borg

According to Reiss, the Pats wait till last possible day to tag....

Thursday marks the first day that NFL teams can assign the franchise tag to a player on their roster. Here is a look at the Patriots' history with assigning the tag:


Adam Vinatieri (2002) -- Designated franchise player on Feb. 21, 2002 (deadline day). Franchise designation removed on March 15, 2002 when he signed a multi-year contract.


Tebucky Jones (2003) -- Designated franchise player on Feb. 20, 2003 (deadline day). Traded to New Orleans on April 14, 2003.


Adam Vinatieri (2005) -- Designated franchise player on Feb. 22, 2005 (deadline day). Played the 2005 season under a 1-year franchise player contract.


Asante Samuel (2007) -- Designated franchise player on Feb. 16, 2007 (deadline was Feb. 22, 2007). Played the 2007 season under a 1-year franchise player contract.

CanadianPat'sFan

I agree BB usually does not designate his Franchise Tags until the last day or very close to. Reise looks at that today

Timing & the tag - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

I am sure BB knows what he is going to do and is not in a hurry right now....but you know he is working like a beaver behind the scenes to get this done.

JSn

This is a different situation (we assume), though. His value must be maximized for trade, they're not trying to negotiate a long-term deal for him to stay or just hang on to a solid player one more year. In all likelihood, they specifically want to cash him in. To me, that means they need to immediately make that undeniably clear asap - well, that they own the guy for a year, I mean. And then let the bidding and scrambling begin.

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CanadianPat'sFan

Sounds reasonable to me and this situation is unlike any other the Pats have faced so maybe BB will throw the franchise tag on him early this time. Either way we are all like kids at Christmas, we can not wait for morning to get our presents AKA 2 first rounders.

JSn

Yeah, no kidding, eh?

There will be fun days of surfing other forums when a bidding war starts and all the anti-cassel guys (Bear's fans being my favourite crop of loonies) begin to wonder more seriously about him.

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swheeler23

The Patriots history says they will wait to the last day possible ,while trying to sign him to along term contract.If the rumors of a brady setback are true it would be better to sign Cassel to a contract so there would be less of a cap hit for 2009. If Brady can not play in 2009 would the Patriots pay him the 3 million signing bonus he is due Feb 27th. To me that day will tell us alot.

ctpatsfan77

Not quite: "If a player subject to a Franchise Player designation accepts the Required Tender, the resulting Player Contract shall be fully guaranteed if the player’s contract is terminated because of lack of comparative skill; as a result of an injury sustained in the performance of his services under his Player Contract; and/or due to a Club’s determination to create Room for Salary Cap purposes."

The point is that the salary is not literally guaranteed; if Cassel were to pull a Kellen Winslow II, the Pats could refuse to pay him (although I'm not 100% sure if they'd get the cap room back).

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ctpatsfan77

If they don't, then Brady becomes an unrestricted free agent.

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