JoeSixPat
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
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What's the unknown part of this ? This is Franchise Tag 101.
What happens if Cassel doesn't sign and looks for a long term deal ? He looks for the deal. If he gets it, he either gets an official offer and signs it then the Patriots can not match and would get two #1 picks. Or the new team can negotiate a trade for a lesser amount.
Nothing new here.
It might be Franchise Tag 101 but when you're talking $15 million it can be a bit more complicated.
Perhaps someone can clarify this question - doesn't the team trading for Cassel also have to have the $14.8 million in cap space to make the trade? We can't trade a player we don't have the rights to - therefore Cassel will never have a cap hit of $0.
I know Reiss says that the $14.8 million gets "ripped up" but isn't it on the books of the team he gets traded to, at least until they consummate the long term contract, that presumably has less of a immediate cap hit?
And if that's the case while the Patriots might not have the most difficult time holding an extra $15 million in cap space open, can we say that every team in the league interest in Cassel also has $15 million in cap space free?
Or does the NFL just give a wink and a nod and allow teams to trade a player who has no cap value?
Typically, with a much smaller cap number for players this is a non-issue ... but then again the Tag was never meant to be a trade tool either.