Schefter: Predict's Cassel will be looking for a Aaron Rodgers type deal

[slash83]

What did Schaub get from Houston when he left Atlanta?
There's a guy who didn't really prove anything, and was courted as a starter.
Cassel will get solid money based on what he's done so far this year, but some teams will disregard the fact that he's got Moss & Welker.
Then again, he played with a swiss cheese o-line, and a MASH unit backfield so far as well.
His ability to run is impressive, if he can continue to improve his decision making, he could be something.

Your right Schaub I believe only started a handful of games and the Falcons received really good compensation for him. Cassel has started every game except KC and has played pretty good for the most part. There has to be a team out there willing to part with a couple draft picks for him, all we need is for one team to bite and were riding extremely high for the 09 draft considering we have SD's 2nd rounder and another pick for Asante which will probably turn into a 3rd rounder.

 

[drew4008]

Lets not "crown" the guy as a top flight NFL quarterback yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYKIcnj1MJY

 

[NJPatsfan26]

He is who we thought he was.

That commercial always makes me laugh.....

 

[Wildo7]

Re: Schefter: Cassel will be looking for a Aaron Rodgers type deal

Of course they are. They Franchise him then trade him while tagged and the player signs the new deal once he's been traded. It happens once a year or so.

No I meant are they allowed to negotiate a deal with another team before they have franchised him as the poster suggested they should do. It would seem unethical to me to call, say, the Lions and ask them "what will you give us for Cassel if we franchise tag him?"

 

[drew4008]

Am I the only one who finds it funny that 80% of this board wanted us to cut Cassel this offseason/preseason and now he's about to seriously cash in? In BB we trust I guess...

 

[slash83]

Am I the only one who finds it funny that 80% of this board wanted us to cut Cassel this offseason/preseason and now he's about to seriously cash in? In BB we trust I guess...

I never wanted the Pats to cut Cassel cause I felt he had the best chance to help us win if Brady went down, but I have to admit I thought he sucked watching him in preseason.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Schefter: Cassel will be looking for a Aaron Rodgers type deal

No I meant are they allowed to negotiate a deal with another team before they have franchised him as the poster suggested they should do. It would seem unethical to me to call, say, the Lions and ask them "what will you give us for Cassel if we franchise tag him?"

Sure they can. There's nothing not allowing it. We all know there are tampering rules but they don't work in this direction. The Patriots can call a team any time they want and discuss a potential trade that would be effective once trading is allowed again.

 

[Wildo7]

Re: Schefter: Cassel will be looking for a Aaron Rodgers type deal

Sure they can. There's nothing not allowing it. We all know there are tampering rules but they don't work in this direction. The Patriots can call a team any time they want and discuss a potential trade that would be effective once trading is allowed again.

No offense, but I'd like verification of this. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a rule against it since you're basically artificially driving the price of a player up that is meant to either hit the free agent market or be kept via the tag.

Also, why would a team agree to that? If they trade for a tagged player they have to pay him a salary commensurate with the top 5 QBs in the league AND give up picks. If they know the Pats have no intention of actually keeping him why wouldn't they just refuse and make the Pats release him into FA?

 

[Wildo7]

Here's the rule about franchise tag players:

An "exclusive" franchise player -- not free to sign with another club -- is offered a minimum of the average of the top five salaries at the player's position as of April 16, or 120 percent of the player's previous year's salary, whichever is greater.

• If the player is offered a minimum of the average of the top five salaries of last season at his position, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, he becomes a “non-exclusive” franchise player and can negotiate with other clubs. His old club can match a new club's offer, or receive two first-round draft choices if it decides not to match. The signing period for non-exclusive franchise players to sign with new clubs is March 3 through November 9 (10th week of the season).

That means that if they franchise Cassel, another team has to match or exceed the contract the Pats sign him to AND give them 2 first round draft picks. If he's exclusive, then I'm assuming they can trade him wherever they want against his will but he will get the same contract and they will lose two picks. If it's non-exclusive then he can negotiate on his own and sign wherever, so a trade isn't really in question.

The Pats don't even have the leverage to go to a team and say "give us this and we'll give you Cassel as a franchise tagged player" since they must offer him a top 5 average salary and give away two draft picks regardless. The only thing the Pats could do is say to a specific team, "don't offer him this and let us tag him and we'll trade him for less," which the Pats would obviously not want to do, and would have to basically lie to all of the suitors except one in order to do it. I doubt any team is going to promise to go after him if the Pats tag him since they have no incentive whatsoever to do that.

 

[TimU]

The Franchise tag for a QB is almost $11 million this year. I can't see anybody wanting Cassell at $11 million. NE may not even have enough cap room to tag him. We won't get anything for him.

While there are ten or so teams that have gotten worse QB play than NE this year, many of them are either heavily invested in their incumbent , have help on the way, or have a good starter that is injured. The others probably are dreaming of something better than Matt Cassell. Its not obvious to me that Cassell will hit the jackpot.

 

[Wildo7]

The Franchise tag for a QB is almost $11 million this year. I can't see anybody wanting Cassell at $11 million. NE may not even have enough cap room to tag him. We won't get anything for him.

While there are ten or so teams that have gotten worse QB play than NE this year, many of them are either heavily invested in their incumbent , have help on the way, or have a good starter that is injured. The others probably are dreaming of something better than Matt Cassell. Its not obvious to me that Cassell will hit the jackpot.

I agree, I just don't see any way the Pats can tag him. if they tag him, they are risking that another team isn't willing to sign him for that much and give up two picks.

The only scenrio I could see is if the Pats agree with another team to tag him and then trade him for a currently active player with a similar salary. Otherwise the cap space would be wasted for 2009 and I doubt that you're allowed to do that anyway.

 

[PromisedLand]

Look, all of this is highly speculative. What will make sense on March 1st will completely depend on the market for Cassel, and that will in turn depend on how he plays the rest of the season. Is it conceivable some team sees him as worth as much as, say, what a first round pick who has proven nothing in the NFL (*cough* Matt Leinart *cough*) gets? Sure. Is it also possible that the rest of the season does nothing but reveal he has reached his potential and expose his flaws, in which case no team would think about making him an offer which would make him worth franchising? Absolutely. So it is silly to argue about it. The full range of possibilities is still in play.

 

[BelichickFan]

Here's the rule about franchise tag players:

That's only if the other team signs him while tagged.

The process is :

Team A tags player.
Team B and player agree to new contract.
Team A trades player to Team B for agreed upon compensation.
Player signs contract with Team B.

"Agreed upon compensation" can be less that the two #1s that are the compensation if Team B signs player while tagged.

 

[BelichickFan]

I agree, I just don't see any way the Pats can tag him. if they tag him, they are risking that another team isn't willing to sign him for that much and give up two picks.

It's called the phone, blackberry or whatever Pioli uses. There's plenty of time between the end of the season and FA to know what interest there is or isn't.

 

[Wildo7]

It's called the phone, blackberry or whatever Pioli uses. There's plenty of time between the end of the season and FA to know what interest there is or isn't.

Why would a team possibly agree to that? They have no incentive whatsoever to tell the Pats what their plans are since they have to match or exceed the offer anyway.

 

[JoeSixPat]

If Cassel's looking for an Aaron Rogers type deal then I guess the Jets makes perfect sense. Brett Favre can announce he's retiring, then they can sign Cassel, and then Favre will change his mind and want to start again, and then the next season Favre will announce his retirement again and then change his mind and Cassel will again be relegated to the bench and then Favre will announce he's retiring, for real this time, and cry at the press conference and the Jets will announce its Cassel's team and then Favre will again change his mind and want to come back to start and this long drawn out soap opera will ensue and then finally Favre will demand a trade and get traded and Cassel will have a chance to start.

Hmmm - on second thought maybe Cassel might not want to say he wants an Aaron Rogers type deal.

 

[Wildo7]

That's only if the other team signs him while tagged.

The process is :

Team A tags player.
Team B and player agree to new contract.
Team A trades player to Team B for agreed upon compensation.
Player signs contract with Team B.

"Agreed upon compensation" can be less that the two #1s that are the compensation if Team B signs player while tagged.

But Team B and player would never agree to a contract less than what the player can automatically get via the tag. Why would Cassel agree to sign for less than 11$ million? When you tag him, he's guaranteed that contract for 2009, so at the very least he's going to be getting 11$ million from somebody. The Pats, or team A, have no say in the matter.

 

[BelichickFan]

Why would a team possibly agree to that? They have no incentive whatsoever to tell the Pats what their plans are since they have to match or exceed the offer anyway.

So the team gets the player without him going on the open market. If, say, Minnesota wants him, gets a deal done with him and the Patriots then makes a trade they remove the chance of another team bidding. There's plenty of incentive for all. The current team gets a draft pick. The player gets a contract he's happy with. The new team gets the player. Maybe you like to get into bidding wars, I don't know.

 

[BelichickFan]

But Team B and player would never agree to a contract less than what the player can automatically get via the tag. Why would Cassel agree to sign for less than 11$ million?

Long term contract. Just like Samuel and Branch didn't want to be tagged. 6 years, $60M, with a $20M signing bonus or whatever. Less money per year, more guaranteed money. It happens ALL the time, that's why players hold out when they're tagged.

 

[Wildo7]

So the team gets the player without him going on the open market. If, say, Minnesota wants him, gets a deal done with him and the Patriots then makes a trade they remove the chance of another team bidding. There's plenty of incentive for all. The current team gets a draft pick. The player gets a contract he's happy with. The new team gets the player. Maybe you like to get into bidding wars, I don't know.

You can't trade the player during the franchise tag period. Once he is tagged, other teams have the right to match or exceed the tag and compensate the Pats with two picks. If nobody did that, then the Pats would be stuck with an 11$ million dollar player that they'll have to trade for almost nothing, and will have 11$ million unspent cap space for 2009. No team is going to agree before hand with the Pats, they have no guarantees other than they MIGHT be able to get him for 11$ million and less than 2 draft picks IF nobody else bids. They would have no reason to agree to that with that Pats before hand when telling them that basically says "tag him, we'll pay anyway." The Pats might have a gage on whether teams would be willing to pay him 11$ million next year and give up picks, but there's no way any other team would want to assure the Pats of that.