Lomardi says the Patriots have to franchise Cassel

[BelichickFan]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

I amy be wrong, but I think you can rescind the franchise offer.

You can until he signs it, after that it's guaranteed from us or whoever he's traded to unless a new contract is signed.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

If you don't, you are SCREWED.

You aren't screwed, you overpay a player for one year. This isn't a five year obligation or anything.

 

[Jimke]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

You can until he signs it, after that it's guaranteed from us or whoever he's traded to unless a new contract is signed.

What keeps the player from signing the franchise offer right

away and guaranteeing himself the $14 mil.?

 

[Miguel]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

Also, how long do you have after you can apply the franchise tag and trade someone before free agency starts?

As of now, the 1st day of free agency is also the 1st day that a team can trade a player. There has been talk of allowing teams to conduct trades before free agency happens but that has not happened as of today.

 

[Miguel]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

What keeps the player from signing the franchise offer right

away and guaranteeing himself the $14 mil.?

Absolutely nothing. A player would then, IMO, gain the upper hand in all contract negotiations.

 

[JSn]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

What keeps the player from signing the franchise offer right

away and guaranteeing himself the $14 mil.?

A pre-arranged agreement or the desire to continue to be a starting QB.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

What keeps the player from signing the franchise offer right away and guaranteeing himself the $14 mil.?

I don't know, maybe Miguel has some insight. Players don't like to be Franchised, maybe they think they're less likely to get the long term deal they want if they sign it.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

Who's Matt's agent?

 

[VJCPatriot]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

What keeps the player from signing the franchise offer right

away and guaranteeing himself the $14 mil.?

There's no guarantee of course except for that player's self interest. In the case of Cassel I think the Pats would tell him that they are franchising him with the intent to trade him. So if Cassel wants to be a starting QB in the NFL he will wait patiently until the deal gets done. If he intends to stay with the Pats, then he would tell them so and they would work out some kind of multiyear deal. But I don't think he'd want to sit behind Brady. So it would be in his own self interest not to sign the franchise offer.

 

[Jimke]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

I don't know, maybe Miguel has some insight. Players don't like to be Franchised, maybe they think they're less likely to get the long term deal they want if they sign it.

My point is that $14 mil. dollars would be a lot of money to a

player like Cassel with a very short resume.

 

[mgteich]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

1) On March 1, we are unlikely to know when Brady will be 100%.
2) I don't want to start 2009 with O'Connell at QB.
3) We can afford to pay Cassel $14M for 2009. We've worked through much more difficult cap hurdles. BTW, we can trade him whenever we are 100% sure that Brady is ready to play.

I would NOT trade Cassel with the idea of trading him. I would franchise him because the patriots may need his services.

 

[JSn]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

I would NOT trade Cassel with the idea of trading him. I would franchise him because the patriots may need his services.

Not sure if they'll do this, but I agree. If Brady is back with a vengeance (which is likely), Cassel will score us some nice players in trade. How about a straight trade to Oakland for Nmadi?

 

[VJCPatriot]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

Not sure if they'll do this, but I agree. If Brady is back with a vengeance (which is likely), Cassel will score us some nice players in trade. How about a straight trade to Oakland for Nmadi?

They are already paying Jamarcus Russell 1 Jillion dollars, so no deal. Likelier landing spots would be Detroit or Minnesota.

 

[Ungeheuer]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

I don't know, maybe Miguel has some insight. Players don't like to be Franchised, maybe they think they're less likely to get the long term deal they want if they sign it.

Guys, there's no way they can NOT franchise Cassel at this point. Unless he completely implodes over the course of the rest of the season, the Pats will be obligated to hold on to him.

They simply can't let him go before they find out what the ultimate disposition of the Brady injury is. Imagine this scenario: they let him walk, and then Brady is unable to come back. Then the Pats will be left without a quarterback, paying Brady franchise money.

What they will do is franchise him and hang on to him at least through next year. It will be similar to the Drew Brees/Phillip Rivers situation. Cassel will hate it, but he doesn't have a choice really.

That's got to be the baseline plan. Other teams will be able to disrupt it by blowing them away with a pre-draft offer, but unless they get the offer they want, they'll have to be prepared to eat that one-year franchise commitment and hold on to two quarterbacks. Long-term, of course, it's not a solution, but for next year, that has to be the plan.

Remember, you're talking about a team that franchised Asante Samuel knowing he might hold out the whole year; they were willing to eat that cost out of principle, even without a guaranteed return. So there's no way they're going to pass on Cassel because of cost. No matter what, you can be sure they won't just let him walk for nothing. If they handle this correctly, it can be the move that reloads the team for the rest of Brady's tenure. If they pick up a few more playmakers on the defensive side they will be set for that one last Brady-era run -- and meanwhile they'll get O'Connell prepared to take over 3-4 years from now.

 

[BradyManny]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

1) On March 1, we are unlikely to know when Brady will be 100%.
2) I don't want to start 2009 with O'Connell at QB.
3) We can afford to pay Cassel $14M for 2009. We've worked through much more difficult cap hurdles. BTW, we can trade him whenever we are 100% sure that Brady is ready to play.

Maybe we technically, in terms of the math of it, we can, but in practicality, I'm not sure we can. We want to extend Wilfork, maybe Seymour, maybe Brady if he's healthy. We need to re-sign a bunch of guys, and sign rookies we'll be drafting.

I think we will know by March 1st if Brady will be 100%. That's 4 months from now, the training staff should know how his rehab is going. I think you have to take your chances with O'Connel as the primary backup.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

Assuming Tom Brady is back in the Spring and his rehab is preceding well, then I say the Patriot's can tag Matt Cassel. If Brady isn't back, then they will definitely tag Cassel.

It's not a foregone conclusion that Cassel would sign the franchise tag right away. Look at the going rate for backup QBs right now. It's $4 million a year. If the franchise tag is $14 million, then Cassel and his agent can talk to the Patriots about a sign and trade. If another team is willing to give him a $10 million bonus (which isn't out of the realm of possibility) then Cassel might prefer a guaranteed $10 over a guaranteed $14 IF IT MEANS HE'LL BE STARTING instead of sitting the bench. Getting $14 million from the Patriots so he can sit behind Brady is not as good a career decision as moving elsewhere, starting, and getting a reasonable longer term contract for a mid-level type QB.

Look at Derek Anderson, please. Anderson is both the reason why Cassel would get a big contract, AND the reason that a team won't overspend for Cassel, since both could be considered one year wonders.

Again, my only point is that Cassel would NOT necessarily sign the franchise papers right away, which might give the Patriots ample opportunity to trade him away for a 2nd and 3rd rounder.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

Maybe we technically can, but in practicality, no, I'm not sure we can. We want to extend Wilfork, maybe Seymour, maybe Brady if he's healthy. We need to re-sign a bunch of guys, and sign rookies we'll be drafting.

I think we will know by March 1st if Brady will be 100%. That's 5 months from now, the training staff should know how his rehab is going. I think you have to take your chances with O'Connel as the primary backup.

With no CBA, we won't be extending Wilfork and Seymour.

If 2010 is uncapped, we'll take advantage of that. I don't see us extending guys when we could take advantage of a huge windfall opportunity in 2010.

 

[BradyManny]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

With no CBA, we won't be extending Wilfork and Seymour.

If 2010 is uncapped, we'll take advantage of that. I don't see us extending guys when we could take advantage of a huge windfall opportunity in 2010.

Yeah, but there's some rule about the uncapped years and the top 6 finishers not being allowed to sign guys. Does anyone know that rule and if it will apply to their own UFAs? Or just players from other teams?

 

[VJCPatriot]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

Assuming Tom Brady is back in the Spring and his rehab is preceding well, then I say the Patriot's can tag Matt Cassel. If Brady isn't back, then they will definitely tag Cassel.

It's not a foregone conclusion that Cassel would sign the franchise tag right away. Look at the going rate for backup QBs right now. It's $4 million a year. If the franchise tag is $14 million, then Cassel and his agent can talk to the Patriots about a sign and trade. If another team is willing to give him a $10 million bonus (which isn't out of the realm of possibility) then Cassel might prefer a guaranteed $10 over a guaranteed $14 IF IT MEANS HE'LL BE STARTING instead of sitting the bench. Getting $14 million from the Patriots so he can sit behind Brady is not as good a career decision as moving elsewhere, starting, and getting a reasonable longer term contract for a mid-level type QB.

Look at Derek Anderson, please. Anderson is both the reason why Cassel would get a big contract, AND the reason that a team won't overspend for Cassel, since both could be considered one year wonders.

Again, my only point is that Cassel would NOT necessarily sign the franchise papers right away, which might give the Patriots ample opportunity to trade him away for a 2nd and 3rd rounder.

Look at the ransom that was gotten for Schaub. And I don't think he has any 400 yard games on his resume. QB starved teams WILL offer a package for Cassel. How rich it will be, is the only question.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Lomardi say the Patriots have to Franchise Cassel

Look at the ransom that was gotten for Schaub.

Do you realize Schaub only had 161 career passes when that trade was made ? You are right, Cassel's body of work is more impressive as of now.