D&C are terrible, lets all agree. My point was that the second anyone tries to call BB less than perfect Patriot Nation has a hissy fit.
That's a myth. It's the first thing people throw out when their analysis is criticized. In the case of D&C, their analysis is based on the most ourageous conclusions they can draw. Pointing that out is "throwing a hissy fit"? A matter of which perspective you're looking at it from, I guess.
Inside their hyperbole was the hint that the Patriots got less than the could have for Cassel. I think they did ok, if they weren't so tight against the cap they could have gotten more.
Their 'hint' sucks and it doesn't hold up to simple reason.
Why were they so tight against the cap? Because they made the decision to get something for Cassel after last season, and the four years they put into him, instead of letting him walk for nothing. They were tight against the cap
because of Cassel.
It seems pretty simple to me - once they had taken the risk of franchising him, they could either move him quickly and have the space again to sign free agents, or they could sit on him and try to wait out the market, presumably into April. Knowing of course that the Fred Taylors and Shawn Springs and Leigh Boddens and Joey Galloways - not to mention their own free agents - would sign with somebody else rather than to wait on the Patriots.
Simple question. Sit back, adding nothing to your team before the draft, unless you're willing to cut other guys that you weren't intending to cut to frere up the space. Or you find a serious bidder and move on.
The idea that they could have or should have gotten more - that was the brainchild of places like this, and the media. People looked at the Schaab deal and others and did their own math. You never heard any actual buyers out there valudating any of it. Because he'd cost at the outset 14 million, and like it or not, there was going to be hesitancy based on the 15 starts with a pretty good offensive team.
This idea that if they'd just waited a few days they would have gotten more is more of the same sort of speculation. Even if the Patriots didn't have Cassel's signed tender until 5 days before the deadline, there was adequate time for teams to inquire. Evidently, they didn't. All we have is more media speculation about firsts and thirds. Making this sort of trade is a commitment - since we're talking about Patriots risks here, I'm pretty skeptical about people who have only one foot in the water even as time is running out. I'm figuring the foot on the shore will leave me holding the bag.
Point is there are layers to everything. Instead I'm hearing that Mike Vrabel insulted Patriot Place and was sent out to pasture, and that Jay Cutler was traded because of a passion play involving Lonie Paxton. I'm glad there is at least one guy - in a sea of this - who points out that we're getting less than valid analysis here.
