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Schedule factors, etc., don't really factor in much, I would think. However, there are two players who, I think, WILL have an impact on how Belioli draft this year:
* QB Matt Cassel. At the moment, he's the only QB behind Brady, so I find it highly unlikely the Pats will trade him this season, unless they get an absurdly good offer (e.g., the Raiders offering a 2007 3rd and a 2008 1st). That said, though, he will almost certainly be trade bait next year, his contract year.
* DL Mike Wright. Wright will be the Pats' lone RFA next year. As such, they can either extend him (as they did with Billy Yates), or give him an RFA tender. If they don't put the 1st-and-3rd tender on him, I can see a number of teams being interested in him. (They will not tender him at the lowest level, as they would lose him and get nothing in return.) So, in other words, it's a win-win-win situation: either the Pats keep Wright and solidify the DL, or the Pats get an extra year to negotiate with Wright on a long-term deal, or Wright gets a big pay day and the Pats get first-day picks from a UDFA.
While my crystal ball is rather hazy, I think the odds are extremely likely that the Pats will have at least one, if not two, extra day one picks in 2008 as things stand now--and I suspect that, to a small extent, will play a role in how Belioli use their 10 picks this year. At the very least, I don't expect them to trade out of day one altogether, but I could see them, for example, flipping one of their 6s for a 5th next year.
Thoughts?
* QB Matt Cassel. At the moment, he's the only QB behind Brady, so I find it highly unlikely the Pats will trade him this season, unless they get an absurdly good offer (e.g., the Raiders offering a 2007 3rd and a 2008 1st). That said, though, he will almost certainly be trade bait next year, his contract year.
* DL Mike Wright. Wright will be the Pats' lone RFA next year. As such, they can either extend him (as they did with Billy Yates), or give him an RFA tender. If they don't put the 1st-and-3rd tender on him, I can see a number of teams being interested in him. (They will not tender him at the lowest level, as they would lose him and get nothing in return.) So, in other words, it's a win-win-win situation: either the Pats keep Wright and solidify the DL, or the Pats get an extra year to negotiate with Wright on a long-term deal, or Wright gets a big pay day and the Pats get first-day picks from a UDFA.
While my crystal ball is rather hazy, I think the odds are extremely likely that the Pats will have at least one, if not two, extra day one picks in 2008 as things stand now--and I suspect that, to a small extent, will play a role in how Belioli use their 10 picks this year. At the very least, I don't expect them to trade out of day one altogether, but I could see them, for example, flipping one of their 6s for a 5th next year.
Thoughts?