My thoughts on the Cassel trade

[Raymond]

I caught Mortenson last night ( approx. midnight ) on ESPN. He concluded that the Pats turned down the #12 pick in the first round in order to give Pioli Cassel at the #34.

Mort has been known to conclude many things that were entirely false.

 

[Wretch]

As this thing dragged on, if it had gone longer, the Patriots' leverage would have diminished more and more and more.

As I posted here ad naseum, the second that we franchised Cassel, the chance of keeping him was non-existent. At the end of the day, we would have traded him for a bag of balls if it came to it. We just didn't have money to do anything in free agency, and every one knew it. The timing here -- getting it done quickly -- was almost important. The only reason Denver got interested was because another deal was imminent. Teams would have loved to see this drag on, watching the Patriots suffer while players like Gaffney got away with the patriots have zero dollars to do anything in the crucial early stages of free agency. This had to happen, and it had to happen quickly, and keeping the player was simply not an option.

It was like found money all along. You have no reason ever to expect to get something from your backup quarterback when he turns free agent. The franchise tag and last year's unfortunate events gave us a shot to get something for nothing. As it turned out, we got plenty of something -- a great second round pick (the second best) and an opportunity to take another $4 million of the books. I think we can debate the second part of the equation -- was the front office right to really think that Vrabel was not worth $4 million on the cap. But it's an entirely different question. They thought it was worth something, and they got it.

Would I have liked a swap of 3d round picks, or something else? Yes. But I've predicted all along that a second round pick was the most we were ever going to get, and so I'm hardly disappointed now to find that it is an excellent second round pick, and we also got something else in terms of a team to take Vrabel (and not one in our division which I think was important). Plus, we didn't have to go through the hard process of cutting one of our best all time Patriots. I'm sad about Vrabel moving on, and I am skeptical whether the money freed up was more important than the player, but as I said that's a separate question.

Well said.

It's easy for armchair GMs in the press and among the fans to say we gave Cassel away, but neither group was part of the negotiations and given how the Pats work we will never know all of the details. Everything is conjecture at this point. If the armchair GMs value a draft pick over cap flexibility then they are justified in their unhappiness. If the armchair GMs value cap flexibility then they are justified in their happiness, but one important factor remains they are still armchair GMs and not actual GMs. One of the primary rules of sales is that a product is only worth as much as you can get for it. The question really is do we trust BB to get the most value from the transaction. For me the answer is yes I trust BB to get the most value. I personally, trust the football judgment of our actual GM over the armchair GMs everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[Rob0729]

As this thing dragged on, if it had gone longer, the Patriots' leverage would have diminished more and more and more.

As I posted here ad naseum, the second that we franchised Cassel, the chance of keeping him was non-existent. At the end of the day, we would have traded him for a bag of balls if it came to it. We just didn't have money to do anything in free agency, and every one knew it. The timing here -- getting it done quickly -- was almost important. The only reason Denver got interested was because another deal was imminent. Teams would have loved to see this drag on, watching the Patriots suffer while players like Gaffney got away with the patriots have zero dollars to do anything in the crucial early stages of free agency. This had to happen, and it had to happen quickly, and keeping the player was simply not an option.

It was like found money all along. You have no reason ever to expect to get something from your backup quarterback when he turns free agent. The franchise tag and last year's unfortunate events gave us a shot to get something for nothing. As it turned out, we got plenty of something -- a great second round pick (the second best) and an opportunity to take another $4 million of the books. I think we can debate the second part of the equation -- was the front office right to really think that Vrabel was not worth $4 million on the cap. But it's an entirely different question. They thought it was worth something, and they got it.

Would I have liked a swap of 3d round picks, or something else? Yes. But I've predicted all along that a second round pick was the most we were ever going to get, and so I'm hardly disappointed now to find that it is an excellent second round pick, and we also got something else in terms of a team to take Vrabel (and not one in our division which I think was important). Plus, we didn't have to go through the hard process of cutting one of our best all time Patriots. I'm sad about Vrabel moving on, and I am skeptical whether the money freed up was more important than the player, but as I said that's a separate question.

I disagree that the Patriots leverage would go down. This goes to the same now debunked theory that Cassel holds the cards once he signed the tender because no team would trade for Cassel without a long term contract in place. Except that is exactly what the Chiefs did.

As free agency went along and QB options dried up, teams would get more desperate for Cassel. The problem is that the Pats wouldn't have the cap flexibility waiting for this while all the free agents they are targetting signed elsewhere.

Last year the Chiefs couldn't give away Jared Allen in March. As time went on and the DEs were taken off the market, the demand grew and they got a first and two thirds. I would have expected a similiar increase in demand for Cassel.

Again, the Pats decided to take a pick just outside the first round and immediately freeing up about $20 million in cap space to fill multiple areas with free agents over being cap strapped for a few weeks while the free agents they covert get snapped up to get more compensation for Cassel.

 

[rabthepat]

The Pats sure got short changed on this deal. We trade a Patriot trained QB, in the prime of his career, for a 2nd round pick? Does this deal sound like "Genius" to anybody? Should have gotten a minimum of a 1st round pick or star player.


After this deal, I wouldn't let BB negotiate my next car trade in.