I think the problem with the tack you took in this thread is you assumed anyone believed the Pats were going to keep Rosie on the roster at his $7M+ 2008 cap hit. Few of us who really thought about it did. If he was playing well this season, which he had been, he was primed for a fair and generous extension that would cut that cap hit in half. If he was playing poorly, which he definitely was not, he would likely face the dreaded take a pay cut or sayonara scenario.
That he was injured this week is really incidental to that discussion unless they believe his injury is one that will impact his ability to play at all going forward. He didn't pull or tweek something nor has he had any history of that, something is obviously broken or he wouldn't have gone on IR. He's no more injury prone than Rodney was in 2005, and Rodney was not asked to restructure or take a pay cut in 2006. He wasn't asked to take one until he missed time again down the stretch in 2006 due to tweeking prior injuries. Then he was asked to take a $900K pay cut for 2007 - which for all we know went to NLTBE which he could have easily earned back (if not for the suspension) simply by seeing lots of playing time in 2007.
Using Milloy or Law as examples is really bogus. That was a much different time, we were up against the cap and desperately needed to improve with no other moves to make. Milloy's cap hit was as much or more than Rosie's back in 2003 and Bill had to challenge his staff to find a single impact play he had made all 2002 season (and much to their chagrin they could not), and Law was set to count $10M+ against an $74M cap and unwilling to agree to an extension he in hindsight was unable to match. Yet because he was still producing they kept Law through 2004 at a $10M cap hit and didn't cut him until his cap hit rose to $12M against an $80M cap because they were willing to pay him his $6M+ salary even limping, just not to do that while stuck dealing with the fallout from an earlier tremendously backloaded deal.
So, will they cut a player who isn't producing and adamantly refuses to take a pay cut, or one who is producing but refuses to sign a reasonable extension to difuse his impending cap hit? Sure, but I don't think Rosie is either of those. He was reasonable in 2003 as a top FA, they stuck by him as he rehabbed from a devastating injury that many felt would end his career, and he's played better each year since returning. I think they will quietly handle the business end of Rosie's deal without beating each other over the head needlessly. It's not good business to squeeze good players for leverage simply as a matter of course. Particularly when you are already thin and aging at a position, find it difficult or expensive to replace players at the position, and the player grew up and has a post career business venture already established in Indianapolis.
