68 million allocated to 7 players - Curran

[BradyManny]

Curran was including the franchise tag for Cassel.

"http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28527539/"

"Meanwhile, it’s been reported that having Brady and a franchised Cassel under contract for 2009 means that a cumbersome 23.5 percent of the $123 million salary cap would be allotted to those two. Making things even tighter for the Pats is the fact that several other key players also have ballooning cap numbers in 2009. Unless restructuring is done, Brady, Cassel, Richard Seymour, Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, Matt Light and Jarvis Green have 2009 cap hits that add up to approximately $65 million. That would leave New England with just $58 million to pay for the other 46 men on the roster.

Currently, the Patriots have about $101 million allocated to 44 players. If they franchise Cassel, that will be close to $115 million for 45."

Seeing and hearing it on TV left me with a different impression than the one I got reading the above.

Sorry about that,

Miguel -

I had exchanged a few emails w Curran regarding the Brady rehab - he actually responded in reference to this thread, and asked if I would clarify his point regarding the Pats cap on his behalf, though now it looks like we're all on the same page at this point.

So, yes, he was involving Cassel's impending franchise tag on the salary cap, and he added "Tell Miguel I shouldn't have been treading so carelessly on his territory, will you?"

(I always like finding out media guys read patsfans for some reason, it reaffirms that this is one of the best places on the net for Pats talk)

A few tidbits from the message I thought I'd pass along:

...throw all those King, Silver and Schefter rebuttals together and look at the content of them. There's nothing there.

The funny thing is, the knee being behind sked so as to make it impossible to do anything but franchise Cassel (which was my original story) and the fact the team's got insane dough wrapped up in 4 guys are facts. Pointing out facts is not negative reporting.

Thanks for posting this screed and I appreciate everyone's passion.

I have to reluctantly agree with his point regarding King, Silver, Schefter. They were lacking in substance. His argument via email was more convincing than I'd like to admit, but I will have to continue to err on the side of optimism regarding Brady anyway.

 

[BelichickFan]

I have to reluctantly agree with his point regarding King, Silver, Schefter. They were lacking in substance. His argument via email was more convincing than I'd like to admit, but I will have to continue to err on the side of optimism regarding Brady anyway.

Curran is right that Brady is behind schedule based on when he got hurt - that doesn't mean he's behind schedule to be ready for Week 1; therein lies the disagreement.

Regarding substance, Casserly provided plenty of substance in saying that Brady is on track to be ready to start the season.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Somebody summed up 2008-2009 Curran on another board:

Tom Curran, who lately seems to be focusing all of his journalistic energies on trying to get Pats' fans to panic this offseason,

 

[Rob0729]

Curran is right that Brady is behind schedule based on when he got hurt - that doesn't mean he's behind schedule to be ready for Week 1; therein lies the disagreement.

Regarding substance, Casserly provided plenty of substance in saying that Brady is on track to be ready to start the season.

Shira Springer went into a lot of detail too. Some backed up Curran's story, but her sources disagree with a lot of the prognosis and issues with Brady's knee that Curran pointed out. She also clarified that Brady was on schedule of the revised timeline after the knee infection.

I like Curran and his story may be true, but I still think he is being far too defensive about this story and taking it far too personally.

I also think that just because Schefter, King, and Silver did not go into details in their stories, doesn't neccessarily make their stories less valid. Their source may not have wanted them to print in detail their version of the story or the source just didn't decide to attack Curran's story point by point. We do have two contradictory stories that did go into detail on points with Curran and he did not address either to BradyManny44 (at least BradyManny didn't publish it) although he did address Springer on WEEI.

 

[Rob0729]

I have to reluctantly agree with his point regarding King, Silver, Schefter. They were lacking in substance. His argument via email was more convincing than I'd like to admit, but I will have to continue to err on the side of optimism regarding Brady anyway.

Curran is a pretty articulate guy both verbally and with the written word. I have no doubt he could make a strong argument for his case even if his information is incorrect. Either he or everyone else are getting the right information or both are getting only correct bits and pieces.

I cannot judge how true the information is on how he sells it though. Much of the information is confirmed from others such as scar tissue hurting the mobility while others are in dispute like whether the ACL is loose and if the MCL being loose means anything. Curran has been given one diagnosis and people like Casserly and Springer (who have more detail in their reports) have other diagnosis. Based on the diagnosis given to him, he can tell a compelling story. The question is whether or not he got the right diagnosis or at least a diagnosis that is more than a very remote possibility.

I still cannot get over Adam Schefter saying that there is at least one bitter member of the Pats medical staff who may be spreading rumors about Brady's knee. Without knowing Curran's source, that is a huge piece of information that you cannot ignore when judging any story about Brady's knee unless it is attributed to an on-the-record Patriots' employee, doctor, player, or Brady or Belichick themselves. Granted I don't completely trust the other four or five stories either because it could be the Pats or Brady doing damage control.

But the fact that no one with close ties to the team can even get anyone to remotely confirm how dire Brady's knee may be according to Curran, I have my doubts. Not only do the media want to find out if it is true, but so do everyone who might be trying to trade for Cassel. You would think with all these people looking someone would back up that story. Even with Manning's second surgery story, several journalists had sources confirming the second surgery and staff infection long before the Colts came clean.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

But the fact that no one with close ties to the team can even get anyone to remotely confirm how dire Brady's knee may be according to Curran, I have my doubts. Not only do the media want to find out if it is true, but so do everyone who might be trying to trade for Cassel. You would think with all these people looking someone would back up that story. Even with Manning's second surgery story, several journalists had sources confirming the second surgery and staff infection long before the Colts came clean.

On a related note--remember how someone in the locker room apparently said, "Matt Cassel is our starter for the rest of the season"?

We haven't heard anything like that about 2009. In fact, everything we've heard about franchising Cassel is either about uncertainty or value, not "Brady won't be ready," as Curran seems to be arguing.

 

[BelichickFan]

Shira Springer went into a lot of detail too. Some backed up Curran's story, but her sources disagree with a lot of the prognosis and issues with Brady's knee that Curran pointed out. She also clarified that Brady was on schedule of the revised timeline after the knee infection.

That report is here :

Brady's rehab progressing as expected - The Boston Globe

Bottom line :

They said the infection appears to have cleared and Brady's rehab is progressing as expected, though the infection caused a lengthy initial delay.

The bottom line to me is that he's on track to be OK on the new schedule. He'll likely have scar tissue removed and they're waiting for the right time but he can rehab effectively enough for now without it being removed.

 

[spacecrime]

Curran was including the franchise tag for Cassel.

"http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28527539/"

"Meanwhile, it’s been reported that having Brady and a franchised Cassel under contract for 2009 means that a cumbersome 23.5 percent of the $123 million salary cap would be allotted to those two. Making things even tighter for the Pats is the fact that several other key players also have ballooning cap numbers in 2009. Unless restructuring is done, Brady, Cassel, Richard Seymour, Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, Matt Light and Jarvis Green have 2009 cap hits that add up to approximately $65 million. That would leave New England with just $58 million to pay for the other 46 men on the roster.

Currently, the Patriots have about $101 million allocated to 44 players. If they franchise Cassel, that will be close to $115 million for 45."

Seeing and hearing it on TV left me with a different impression than the one I got reading the above.

Sorry about that,

No, you were right. I saw the same show. What probably happened is that Curran read this thread, or someone emailed him, and he either re-figured or clarified what he meant.