There is only one Tom Brady,but that does not mean that Matt Cassel is without talent.
Scouting QBs is the hardest thing to do because athletic talent has the least to do with a QBs ability, once he has an arm "good enough". Cassel's arm obviously passes that "good enough" test with lots of room to spare.
Then the things that you evaluate a QB on are:
POISE (The ability to remain composed under pressure)
- Rohan Davey didn't have it
Intelligence (To understand the theory of the Offense)
- Michael Bishop didn't have it
Leadership (An Intangible that makes others wiling to follow)
- John Huard didn't have it
Personality (The ability to get along with 52 other guys on the Team)
- Jeff George didn't have it
Tenacity ( Toughness and never give up attitude)
- Tony Eason didn't have it
Hard Worker (To be a good QB you have to work hard at it)
- Drew Bledsoe but its not entirely true He is not a good example perhaps the Raider QB of the 80s, who would rather have smoked dope, whose name I forget (Milasovich??)
Team Oriented ( The ability to sacrifice for the good of the Team)
- Jeff George definitely didn't have it
Only now do we get to pure athletic talent. Many a successful QB didn't have enough but still won. Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar, Joe Kapp, are but a few examples.
Athletic talent analyzed.
Cassel's arm might actually be slightly stronger than Brady's arm. He approaches Bledsoe the epitome in in arm strength.
Cassel's accuracy is no where near Brady's, but it is at least as good as Grogans and maybe better.
Cassel's running ability is better than many Pats starters. While not as good as a Young Steve Grogan, he is not too far behind. He's miles ahead of Bledsoe and Plunkett though.
Cassel is not inhibited by size. He has ideal size, and can see over the line and rush, unlike say Doug Flutie whose passing was constrained to certain "throwing lanes".
In short, I can see Matt Cassel evolving in to an NFL starting caliber, above average, QB. He made major strides and is almost there already as a Sophomore.