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Are you kidding?
Cassel went 11-5 in 2008 and it took him AND Mike Vrabel to get ONE (1) 2nd round pick.
NE franchised Cassel in order to get some compensation instead of nothing. The reality then was that NE possessed minimum leverage given the league understanding that NE would never keep that franchise contract for a backup. Getting a high #2 and unloading 2 major contracts (combined $19 mill) for players that had zero future on the roster was a deal they were comfortable with. There is also a timing component involved with this transaction. NE clearly the decks very early (March) with this trade and one could assume NE valued cleared cap space prior to FA more than clogging up their available cap into the summer months and squeezing a higher pick from a desperate team.....a pick that would be drafted a year later. And that 2009 draft, NE avoided the first round like the plague.....trading out and not using the huge excess of picks that year (4 second rounders) to move up.
Eff Clay Mathews ....We want Chung, Brace, Butler........call the jeweler!!!
Here's a Wikipedia summary of the 2009 Pats........this was clearly a transition year across the board....coaching staff, wobbly vets, contracts....all cleared out.
2009 New England Patriots season - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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