Should fans realize O'Connel is Cassel 2.0 & Matt is awesome trade bait?

[BelichickFan]

Cassel can financially afford to sit out a season, but his career would be severely harmed if he did so. He doesn't have a lengthy resumé and teams would be dealing with a one year player who had gone another year without starting. Toss in the uncertainty of the CBA, and it's one hell of a gamble for Cassel to take.

Plus Cassel will be 27 years old at the start of next year. Sit out a year and he's 28. OK, he still has, what, 6 prime years but after sitting out his entire career between high school and this year I'm guessing he wants to play and if he gets a really good long term contract would be very happy vs. sitting out again in the hopes of getting a really, really good long term contract. I'm not even sure he'd do better in 2010, if Brady comes back in 2009 Cassel will be out of sight, out of mind and there will be new "flavor of the week" QBs available.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

d. - to get the best contract he can get.

So in your mind, getting the best contract he can is the most important thing in Matt Cassel's life? A guy willing to play Special Teams in college and try to and get on the field and play? Seriously? What a low opinion you have of him.

when the Pats contact the Vikings they say, "if we agree to get Cassel to sign a contract with you, we'll then tag him and trade him to you for X."

You've got this a bit backwards, why would the Pats contact the Vikings? The Pats have the commodity, those clubs who want that commodity will contact them and find out what the Pats are asking in trade, they make a counter-offer, and the negotiations go from there. Once a price is agreed on, the exchange occurs, now it's the new club's job to reach an agreement with Cassel - I'm going to give the Pats the benefit of the doubt and assume they give Matt and his agent some input on where he winds up, but I'm an inveterate homer.

They then would have to go to Cassel and say, "Matt, we're going to tag you and trade you to the Vikings if you agree to sign a long term contract with them." What are the chances that Cassel's agent believes the Vikings contract offer is going to be anywhere near what he can get if he refuses and the Pats have to release him?

Why do the Pats "have to release him?" As Deus noted, he has no leverage. This is his window of opportunity, he's busy playing himself into a chance to start and he'd be a fool to miss his "window."

EDIT: All of this assumes he's given the "exclusive" tag, the Pats could just tag him with the non-exclusive tag and let his agent do all the leg work for them while they collect two first round picks.

 

[Miguel]

Miguel has the team with over $24 million below the cap next season.

As I say on the page, that is before
1.) the 2008 practice squad players are signed to contracts - will take away cap space
2.) the ERFAs and RFAs are tendered - ditto
3.) some players' salaries are increased because of reached escalators - ditto
4.) the LTBE/NTLBE calculation is calculated - will probably add cap space
5.) players retire - will add cap space

 

[Miguel]

I'm sorry, how is Cassel allowed to "refuse and hit FA?"

The first question you need to answer - what does Matt Cassel want?
- a. To start.
- b. To remain a reserve.
- c. To retire.

As long as its "a," you can be reasonably certain he will wlecome a trade after being Franchised.

Another possible answer is to win.

 

[Miguel]

As I say on the page, that is before
1.) the 2008 practice squad players are signed to contracts - will take away cap space
2.) the ERFAs and RFAs are tendered - ditto
3.) some players' salaries are increased because of reached escalators - ditto
4.) the LTBE/NTLBE calculation is calculated - will probably add cap space
5.) players retire - will add cap space

6.) signed players reach new deals - will probably add cap space
7.) potential UFAs re-sign with the Pats - will probably take away cap space

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

6.) signed players reach new deals - will probably add cap space
7.) potential UFAs re-sign with the Pats - will probably take away cap space

Miguel, is it possible that with 2010 possibly being an uncapped year, that players will not want to resign in 09 a year before their contracts are up? Therefore, we would be paying a higher cap figure for them, than if we had resigned them long term. Im assuming that most contracts are heavier in the last 2 yrs, including rookie deals.

 

[Miguel]

Miguel, is it possible that with 2010 possibly being an uncapped year, that players will not want to resign in 09 a year before their contracts are up? Therefore, we would be paying a higher cap figure for them, than if we had resigned them long term. Im assuming that most contracts are heavier in the last 2 yrs, including rookie deals.

It is possible but I will contend that over the past couple of years teams have been acting like there is no cap (see Dallas, Oakland) and that teams will have a ton of cap space in 2009 so they will probably attempt to use it. A player who signs a one-year deal in 2009 in the hope of getting a bigger deal in 2010 is risking
1.) his not getting injured in 2009
2.) his level of play staying the same
3.) that the CBA is not extended before 2010.

Is that risk-reward ratio favorable??

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Another possible answer is to win.

And this would lead him to do what, exactly?

 

[Miguel]

And this would lead him to do what, exactly?

Refuse to deal with a losing team.

Let's say that Detroit is willing to give the Pats two numbers ones for Cassel and the Vikings are willing to give a 3rd round pick for Cassel but Cassel wants to play for the Vikings because he feels that he has a better chance of winning a Super Bowl with them. He could simply refuse to deal with the Lions.

 

[Miguel]

Another possible answer is to win.

Other possible answers are to
5.) play near home
6.) play for a certain coach
7.) try to be the savior of a beleagured franchise

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

The National Football Post | Monday Money Matters

Amid the haze of the exhilarating win by the Jets over the Patriots last Thursday night was the stellar play of Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, another game in a series of solid performances from a player the Patriots had faith in from the day they lost Tom Brady (remember the immediate cry from pundits for the Patriots to sign one of the veteran quarterbacks waiting for a call?). Now comes the discussion of Cassel and the future.

Cassel, as a seventh-round pick, negotiated a four-year deal in 2005. It had become common practice by then for many teams, Patriots included, to negotiate four-year contracts with all draft picks past the first round (2005 was the last year teams could negotiate five-year deals in the second round; that was reduced to four-year maximum lengths in the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement). Thus, Cassel’s contract runs out this year, completing the final year of his rookie deal.

There has been some debate since Thursday as to his worth, factoring in recent deals by Aaron Rodgers, Derek Anderson, David Garrard, Tony Romo and a certain deal to come for Jason Campbell. That, of course, assumes that Cassel hits the market for unrestricted free agency in March. Certainly, with the lack of quality young quarterbacks ever hitting the marketplace, he could negotiate that level of contract or higher at that time. Assuming his continued ascending performance in the next two months, however, I would expect that the Patriots would not let him reach unrestricted free agency.

Even with Tom Brady making eight figures, the Patriots would be wise to apply the Franchise Tag to Cassel, a tag price that will be determined in February — the amount was 10.7M in 2008, likely to be slightly above that in 2009. The Patriots are currently showing 101M of Cap charges for 2009 with an expected Cap of 123M, so they will have the room to use the tag.

The application of the Franchise Tag, although Cap heavy for the off season, would allow for the following: (1) retention of a quality quarterback while Brady continues his rehabilitation with the team monitoring his progress, (2) no cash outlay of funds until September, allowing cash, if not Cap flexibility, and (3) the ability to listen to trade offers and potentially consummate a trade that could bring players and/or draft picks to the Patriots (at which point a new deal would be made between Cassel and the trading team).

Assuming the Patriots and Cassel could not agree to a contract that would satisfy both parties, there is some real value in placing a tag on Cassel…………

 

[Lifer]

If this coaching staff can coach Matt up, they can and will do the same with O'Connell. Lets realize Tom Brady is the man, one of the best QB's in league history. Matt Cassel will be a great bargaining chip as we reload for 2009.

Why dont we just cut Cassel now, and put in O'Connell.