By March 4 - A busy ten days

[mgteich]

Much will happen in the next week or so. We will/should know
1) which "free agents" have re-signed with their teams
2) who has been cut (for example, Carolina needs to get down to their cap)
3) the final cap numbers (hopefully)
4) which franchisees have signed their tenders
5) who has been tendered by the patriots and for what values
6) who has been tendered by other teams (we rarely end up with an RFA from other teams)
7) an updated free agent list
8) who the patriots have immediately signed or re-signed
9) whether there is an immediate deal involving Cassel, freeing up cap space
10) perhaps an extension or two (Green? Light? Vrabel? Faulk?) that could save cap monies (potential extensions that would cost cap money will need to wait: Seymour, Wilfork, Hobbs, Mankins, Kaczur)
11) combine analysis and updated draft lists and mocks

 

[patsfaninpa]

I have a feeling it's going to pretty quiet in New England. I don't think we'll trade Cassel until we get closer to the draft. Then, we will use that money to extend guys like;
Wilfork,Mankins and Seymour(maybe?). It's much easier to extend them now than to wait
until after the next season when they are approaching free-agency. If we don't sign someone in free-agency to fill a hole. We can trade for them on draft weekend with all of our extra picks.

If we do sign one UFA just guessing Sean Jones - S - Cleve. Tweak our buddy Mangini a little and he does fill a hole. Contract shouldn't be too outrageous.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Much will happen in the next week or so. We will/should know
8) who the patriots have immediately signed or re-signed or lost to other teams
9) whether there is an immediate deal involving Cassel, freeing up cap space
10) perhaps an extension or two (Green? Light? Vrabel? Faulk?) that could save cap monies (potential extensions that would cost cap money will need to wait: Seymour, Wilfork, Hobbs, Mankins, Kaczur, Gostkowski )
11) combine analysis and updated draft lists and mocks

Fixed your post for you.

 

[fgssand]

I have a feeling it's going to pretty quiet in New England. I don't think we'll trade Cassel until we get closer to the draft. Then, we will use that money to extend guys like;
Wilfork,Mankins and Seymour(maybe?). It's much easier to extend them now than to wait
until after the next season when they are approaching free-agency. If we don't sign someone in free-agency to fill a hole. We can trade for them on draft weekend with all of our extra picks.

If we do sign one UFA just guessing Sean Jones - S - Cleve. Tweak our buddy Mangini a little and he does fill a hole. Contract shouldn't be too outrageous.

I couldn't disagree with you more....with all that is going on, I think it is going to be a very busy stretch coming up - I think Cassel dealing will be full go right out of the box on 2/27. That deal has to get done which then opens the floodgates for all the the signings and extensions of our own as well as others FA's.

BB & Co. have had a lot of time (read his statements and Q&A from today) and they have their plan in place....it all should start on 2/27. Not that there is any urgency as there is a long way to draft day, but, without the Cassel situation being resolved, everything will remain in limbo (and no, I do not see any scenario that Cassel is with the Patriots in 2009).

 

[signbabybrady]

I couldn't disagree with you more....with all that is going on, I think it is going to be a very busy stretch coming up - I think Cassel dealing will be full go right out of the box on 2/27. That deal has to get done which then opens the floodgates for all the the signings and extensions of our own as well as others FA's.

BB & Co. have had a lot of time (read his statements and Q&A from today) and they have their plan in place....it all should start on 2/27. Not that there is any urgency as there is a long way to draft day, but, without the Cassel situation being resolved, everything will remain in limbo (and no, I do not see any scenario that Cassel is with the Patriots in 2009).

I am with you that it will be interseting right out of the gate and I am with you that I do not see Cassel here next year but I think that might take a few weeks to play out but I think the 6 or 7 mil we have will allow us to grab some things if they fit. I am on board with most who think once Cassel is freed up most of that money should be used on our own guys (next years FA) so most of what we have available now should be used on FA and obviously you need to save for the rookies but that can come out of the Cassel money too.

 

[patsox23]

I am with you that it will be interseting right out of the gate and I am with you that I do not see Cassel here next year but I think that might take a few weeks to play out.

A few WEEKS? Why on Earth would we hold ourselves hostage for a few weeks? Unable to extend guys like Wilfork, Mankins, etc... I realize we don't have total control over this situation, but I assume part of why they tagged him so early was to get the ball rolling on trade offers. I expect the trade to go through within a few days of FA beginning. Early March.

I could be wrong, but that's my take.

 

[signbabybrady]

A few WEEKS? Why on Earth would we hold ourselves hostage for a few weeks? Unable to extend guys like Wilfork, Mankins, etc... I realize we don't have total control over this situation, but I assume part of why they tagged him so early was to get the ball rolling on trade offers. I expect the trade to go through within a few days of FA beginning. Early March.

I could be wrong, but that's my take.

In an Ideal world we get it done day one but it may take a few weeks to get the best deal to the table.

who cares when we re-sign Mankins and wilfork and the like as long as it happens before they hit FAency next year no urgency there obviously it would be nice to get it done this offseason but that doesn't need to happen immediately this offseason it could happen after the draft....the reason to get Cassel done quick would be to use his money on FA but as I think a good 10 mil or so will be needed to re-up The Wilforks and Mankins so we are not going to be huge players in FA but we have the 6-7 available now and that can be used on FA the 14 mil we get back from cassel can be used on draft picks and re-signing next years FA and a few other late signings. No need for us to rush but the team trading for him will want him quick giving us hand but if you feel we need to it quick too you give hand back.

 

[dhamz]

The initial offers the Pats get on Cassel are likely to be lowball offers to see if they are desperate to get that 15m off their cap ASAP. I'd expect the trade to take some time and because of it the Pats will mostly stay on the sidelines of FA this offseason.

 

[Pats726]

This will be an interesting time..a LOT will be learned about the 09 team. Can NOT wait!!

 

[Lamanai]

The initial offers the Pats get on Cassel are likely to be lowball offers to see if they are desperate to get that 15m off their cap ASAP. I'd expect the trade to take some time and because of it the Pats will mostly stay on the sidelines of FA this offseason.

Not sure if I agree here, unless there really is only one team involved (Team A). Even the perception that a second team (Team B) might make an offer, say slightly above the Team A "lowball" offer, makes this a poor negotiating strategy. Kinda of a risky manuever with what appears to be a market with so few comparable assets available. (I mean, do you really want to offer $250k for what you believe to be your $300k dream house, only to find someone else slides in at $275k?) Your "bottom fishing" scenario is sometimes a viable strategy, but typically only for out-of-favor/declining value assets with few or no bidders.

IMHO, the better option for bidding teams (Teams A & B) is to make a competitive bid, slightly/moderately below their highest offer (some built-in, negotiating "wiggle room") so they considered still in the game by the seller. If you, Team A is close but below another bidder (Team B) you will probably get another call to goose the first offer. If your offer is substantially lower than Team B's, you'll read about the deal closing in the newspaper. Not a good idea to get too cute in trying to acquire your new Franchise QB.

Again, there only needs to be the perception that multiple teams are in the mix in order to elicit serious offers. Just my opinion.

 

[fgssand]

The initial offers the Pats get on Cassel are likely to be lowball offers to see if they are desperate to get that 15m off their cap ASAP. I'd expect the trade to take some time and because of it the Pats will mostly stay on the sidelines of FA this offseason.

They could low ball themselves right out of a franchise QB if these they do not get serious, right away.

We have what they want.....a bona fide, young, experienced starting NFL caliber QB, with one awesome year under his belt and lots of upside.