ESPN: Cassel has accepted the franchise tender [merged]

Re: Report: Cassel has accepted the franchise tender (merged)

JoeSixPat said:

Don't teams now need to give up TWO 1st round picks to get him now?

If that's increasing his flexibility I'm missing something.

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Think of it as the difference between a hostile takeover and a friendly merger (trade). In the hostile situation, the team has to give up their first rounder the next two years but they can negotiate for lesser value in a trade. If a team ponied up a 1st this year and a 2nd or 3rd next year, I personally think it would get it done...That would give the Pats two picks in each of the first three rounds with the extra picks being #1-Cassel trade, round 2-Hester trade w SD last year and round 3- anticipating compensatory for A. Samuel.

do people not say sook in america? "sook" is like a cry-baby or whinger or baby.

but back on topic so basically matty c signing this only really effects the patriots pre season i am talking, by meaning atm they have another 14.5 million on their cap so they arent very likley to sign anyone early in free agency or at all if we don't trade him

Here's Schefter's take:

NFL.com Blogs Blog Archive Cassel signs $14.65M franchise tender

Re: Report: Cassel has accepted the franchise tender (merged)

Why are people acting like this development is surprising and that the Patriots weren't/aren't expecting it? And why does anyone here think it changes anything moving forward? It doesn't.

We franchise him, he signs it, we work out a deal with a team, we trade him, the 14.6 mill comes off our cap. This isn't rocket science and it's BARELY a story.

Do people not understand the process?

Re: Report: Cassel has accepted the franchise tender (merged)

Lampshade said:

Exactly. There is simply no way this news came crashing out of the blue into the front office. Not a single thing has changed, other than the guarantee that at worst Cassel will be attending all off-season camps.

Incidentally, I haven't heard 'sook' since my NZ girlfriend dumped me.

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That's Australian vernacular for you . Don't even start me on those folk across the Tasman.

And in layman's term, a sook is a cry baby BF. Otherwise known as a "Favre"

jsull87 said:

but back on topic so basically matty c signing this only really effects the patriots pre season i am talking, by meaning atm they have another 14.5 million on their cap so they arent very likley to sign anyone early in free agency or at all if we don't trade him

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The $14+M counted against the cap once we tagged him. The only change now is that if we find no market whatsoever for him or can't trade him because he won't go, we can't withdraw the tender.

I think they should trade Cassel regardless of Brady's health. The opportunity to build from what we'll get from him for the future plus the health of our cap outweighs having to struggle with O'Connell or an unhealthy Brady next year IMO. I know this is a big no no for a team that plans to win it all every year but as a Pats fan I could deal with risking a worst case scenario for one season if it means rebuilding the defense and having money to spend.

Interesting move that could mean one of several things.

Wildo7 said:

I think they should trade Cassel regardless of Brady's health. The opportunity to build from what we'll get from him for the future plus the health of our cap outweighs having to struggle with O'Connell or an unhealthy Brady next year IMO. I know this is a big no no for a team that plans to win it all every year but as a Pats fan I could deal with risking a worst case scenario for one season if it means rebuilding the defense and having money to spend.

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I would trade him reagardless of Brady too - it's not too relevant to the cap, though, unless they wanted to sign big money guys from the outside this year. They can let Cassel go next offseason when the big boys need to be re-signed. I don't think Wilfork is going to sign a year early either way.

ahhhh ok yeah i get it all now. i just had it in my head that if cassel signed the deal people would need to give up 2 1st rounders. the only real development is that until the trade (hopefully a good one) we will have another 14.5mill on our books

Re: Report: Cassel has accepted the franchise tender (merged)

jsull87 said:

i'll admit it i really didn't see that coming. to can someone get this straight for me please. now he has signed the tag. do teams have to give up 2 1sts for him for him to be traded? or can we still work out other deals? because if not then i think its going to be a little bit harder to get a trade now

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Not unless he gets traded, because they can't sign him. He is under contract with the Pats.

I just think the Patriots are going to keep Cassel. 30 million on two players? One will not play. Cassel will be making almost twice as much as Brady. I doubt that will be a problem for Brady but for alot of players it would be.What if Brady is healthy and the Pats keep Cassel? A 14 million dollar clip board holder?

swheeler23 said:

I just think the Patriots are going to keep Cassel. 30 million on two players? One will not play. Cassel will be making almost twice as much as Brady. I doubt that will be a problem for Brady but for alot of players it would be.What if Brady is healthy and the Pats keep Cassel? A 14 million dollar clip board holder?

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If Cassel stays, the money is irrelevant to Brady.

swheeler23 said:

I just think the Patriots are going to keep Cassel. 30 million on two players? One will not play. Cassel will be making almost twice as much as Brady. I doubt that will be a problem for Brady but for alot of players it would be.What if Brady is healthy and the Pats keep Cassel? A 14 million dollar clip board holder?

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The money isn't that relevant because it's only one year and we have few FA of our own to sign. If we keep him it would just prevent us from doing much signing from the outside and from re-signing next year's guys a year early - but we don't know if either scenario was in the cards anyway.

Deus Irae said:

If Cassel stays, the money is irrelevant to Brady.

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I said the money wouldnt bother Brady. Alot of qb's around the league would be pissed if they were in Bradys situation. That has always been something I liked about Brady.

BelichickFan said:

I would trade him reagardless of Brady too - it's not too relevant to the cap, though, unless they wanted to sign big money guys from the outside this year. They can let Cassel go next offseason when the big boys need to be re-signed. I don't think Wilfork is going to sign a year early either way.

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I'm not a cap guy but aren't there others we could extend? If we get (high) picks don't we need extra cash? I know the Pats FO is savvy but I have to believe that $28m on 2 QBs is going to negatively impact the team somehow, even if 2010 is uncapped.

Another thought though; if they trade Cassel and Brady is clearly not able to start next season is that going to create controversy? I know it's all a joke, but the tag is meant to be applied to players you intend on keeping. Not that they could ever prove otherwise but I really don't want another ESPN drama.

Wildo7 said:

I'm not a cap guy but aren't there others we could extend? If we get (high) picks don't we need extra cash? I know the Pats FO is savvy but I have to believe that $28m on 2 QBs is going to negatively impact the team somehow, even if 2010 is uncapped.

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We won't need much for the picks we have. If we got high picks (from Cassel) the $14M would open up. We do have big boys we could extend who become UFA next year but they generally seem to like to play it out, guys like Warren and Koppen are exceptions. I like having guys in contract years, they tend to play better. We'll have cap space this time next year to re-sign some and can Franchise Wilfork if necessary.

I usually like Schefter, but I honestly don't know what he's smoking. I suppose it's possible the Patriots FO has already been sending out those signals as a negotiating ploy, but there's simply no chance they're keeping him unless Brady is profoundly hurt. It's all negotiation. He'll be traded by March 2nd.

Re: Report: Cassel has accepted the franchise tender (merged)

patchick said:

I'm a little surprised. Why wouldn't Cassel choose to talk to other teams first, at least to get a sense of the market for his services? Interesting.

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Signing the tender doesn't change anything in terms of our ability to trade him. If anything, this helps us in the court of public opinion when we do trade him, it creates the illusion that the tag wasn't just a means to trading him.

I'm positive the Pats will give Cassel the permission to negotiate with other teams, thus making the signing of this tender irrelevant in that regard:

Matt Cassel and the Franchise Tag: Myths and Facts | Bleacher Report

I think it is pretty simple - the guy didn't earn much at all over the life of his rookie contract. He had a $14 million check placed in front of his face - he has a responsibility to himself and his family to sign it.

I wouldn't read much at all into it.