Re: Shefter on Cassel as a QB
Right now, if you were looking for a long-term (> 2 years) solution at QB to build a team around, only Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger are obviously better bets than Cassel at this point. Matt Ryan looked spectacular, but has only 1 year under his belt, and rookies have been known to have their bumps (Roethlisberger is a case in point). Same for Joe Flacco. Eli Manning, Jay Cutler, Tony Romo, and Philip Rivers are all worth discussing, but I'm not sure that any is going to end up being better than Cassel in the long run. Carson Palmer has had injuries, and I agree he is off the table for the time being.
David Garrard, Matt Schaub and Aaron Rodgers are all reasonable options, but I personally doubt any of them will end up being as good as Cassel.
Everyone else has either age issues (Warner, Hasselbeck, Collins, McNabb) or a lot of other issues. SF, Arizona, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Oakland, Kansas City, Tennessee, Cleveland, Buffalo, the Jets and Miami would all be better off in the long run with Cassel as their QB.