What does BB think is the best for the team?

[mgteich]

C. Make a trade free up alot of cap space and use the saved money to resign probowl players such as Wilfork, Mankins, Seymour, use the extra draft picks which we would get for trading Cassel and help rebuild a championship defense, AND SIGN A VETERAN BACKUP.

After all, there wer TWO surprises in Cassel's success. The first is that most here thought that he didn't have the talent. The second was that his lack of experience was going to be a major problem. Do we believe that O'Connell is now where Cassel was last year?

Its a simple question, whats best for the team?

A. Keep Cassel and pay him almost 15 million to almost certainly carry a clipboard on the sidelines during a game.

B. Make a trade free up alot of cap space and use the saved money to resign probowl players such as Wilfork, Mankins, Seymour, use the extra draft picks which we would get for trading Cassel and help rebuild a championship defense.

BB always does whats best for the team, keeping Cassel for that amount of money is not in the best interest of the team bottom line.

 

[PatsAttack]

Vinny Testeverde or Doug Flutie.

lol they will come back!!!!



Gotta trade Cassel before the draft so they can sign Free Agents

 

[Synovia]

.

I mean, O'Connell was higher rated coming out of college than either Cassel or Brady,

Completely irrelevant.

he's had a year to study and get acclimated, and I believe we would see a similar progression of development if he were forced to play the whole year.

Its good that hes had a year, but its unlikely that hes ever as good as Cassel, let alone Brady. BB will know better than any of us, but from the outside, a QB outside the first round should never be seen as anything other than a maybe, until he plays and proves himself. The vast majority, despite their rankings, combines, etc, are never good enough to start in the NFL.

 

[Joker]

uh...from what I've seen of him and comparing him in his first year with the looks of Cassel, who I also saw a lot of, O'Connell is bigger,has more speed and acceleration, has a stronger arm and can throw on the run. His intangibles seem to be quite good also,especiallyt his fiery competitive nature which displayed itself often in practice and preseason.

a QB outside the first round should never be seen as anything other than a maybe, until he plays and proves himself.

there's so many holes in that statement that it resembles an L.A. drive-by shooting...

 

[AzPatsFan]

My purely speculative thought on Bill's thinking is that he believes three things:

1) That Brady is going to come back and be fine. If not at the beginning of the season, then at the end, like Manning this past year.

2) That the likelihood of him getting hurt that bad again is fairly low.

3) That he can (right or wrong) coach up O'Connell or whoever else they bring in like they did with Cassel, should the unthinkable happen.

I mean, O'Connell was higher rated coming out of college than either Cassel or Brady, he's had a year to study and get acclimated, and I believe we would see a similar progression of development if he were forced to play the whole year.

Assuming that position is adequate (not great, just adequate), I believe BB thinks if the rest of his team were stronger last year (i.e, the defense), then his backup QB would have been plenty good enough to get them into the playoffs. Hell, the team was good enough last year, just got hit with bad timing and missed at 11-5.

That being said, unless it is obvious that Brady will not be playing in 2009, I think BB will take the chance by trading Cassel, restocking the rest of the team, and making do with whatever QB they end up having to use.

Cassel wasn't even considered worth trading until the second half of the season, and yet we almost made the playoffs. I think if we improve the defense, we can coach up O'Connell or a vet to give us the same security and the team will be better off.

I think you might be astonished to look at actual history of starting QBs and find out just what percentage of them play the whole season without getting hurt for several or more games. The odds are "not quite low" at all...

You might start to feel that Belichick has been dodging the bullet for several years; and his luck has got to return to "normal"...

Just one less loss in the early season when MC was finding his legs and we would have been in the Tourney. Do you want to do that again, with no guarantee that KO'C would ever find his legs?

 

[BradyManny]

You might start to feel that Belichick has been dodging the bullet for several years; and his luck has got to return to "normal"...

Just one less loss in the early season when MC was finding his legs and we would have been in the Tourney. Do you want to do that again, with no guarantee that KO'C would ever find his legs?

A) How many teams in the history of the NFL have paid 14.5 million for a backup QB?
B) What record would a Cassel-led team lead the Patriots to with the brutal schedule we have next year? Would it be good enough to make the playoffs? Could you guarantee we would make the playoffs w Cassel at QB next year?

 

[Deus Irae]

I think you might be astonished to look at actual history of starting QBs and find out just what percentage of them play the whole season without getting hurt for several or more games. The odds are "not quite low" at all...

You might start to feel that Belichick has been dodging the bullet for several years; and his luck has got to return to "normal"...

Just one less loss in the early season when MC was finding his legs and we would have been in the Tourney. Do you want to do that again, with no guarantee that KO'C would ever find his legs?

A) How many teams in the history of the NFL have paid 14.5 million for a backup QB?
B) What record would a Cassel-led team lead the Patriots to with the brutal schedule we have next year? Would it be good enough to make the playoffs? Could you guarantee we would make the playoffs w Cassel at QB next year?

C.) If the team is so adamant about keeping Cassel, why did they use the non-exclusive version of the franchise tag?

 

[mgteich]

There are no guarantees, but I would not expect a Cassel led team to get us the playoffs, given the schedule and cap burden.

A) How many teams in the history of the NFL have paid 14.5 million for a backup QB?
B) What record would a Cassel-led team lead the Patriots to with the brutal schedule we have next year? Would it be good enough to make the playoffs? Could you guarantee we would make the playoffs w Cassel at QB next year?

 

[BradyManny]

There are no guarantees, but I would not expect a Cassel led team to get us the playoffs, given the schedule and cap burden.

Right. I can really see it going either way. Does Cassel continue to improve? Probably. We'd continue to beat up on bad teams, I'm sure, but next year's schedule is a beating compared to this season. If Moss ever got hurt, we'd be screwed.

Point being, if you're paying 14.5 million for a QB, you expect him to be good enough to deliver you into the playoffs, and play well enough in the playoffs to keep you in contention. Not to diminish Cassel's season (and not to start up the discussion about Brady's 2008 playoff play again [Deus...]) but we don't know if Cassel can do that. It's outrageous to pay 14.5 million for that uncertainty when we're already paying 14 million for a guy at the same position.

 

[Deus Irae]

(and not to start up the discussion about Brady's 2008 playoff play again [Deus...])

.....................

 

[TomPatriot]

Its a simple question, whats best for the team?

Simple answer - Winning.

 

[VJ11]

Its a simple question, whats best for the team?

A. Keep Cassel and pay him almost 15 million to almost certainly carry a clipboard on the sidelines during a game.

B. Make a trade free up alot of cap space and use the saved money to resign probowl players such as Wilfork, Mankins, Seymour, use the extra draft picks which we would get for trading Cassel and help rebuild a championship defense.

BB always does whats best for the team, keeping Cassel for that amount of money is not in the best interest of the team bottom line.

Cassel will be kept for now - if all else fails, he will be the expensive backup to Brady. He will be traded if the QB situation is satisfactorily dealt with (Brady healthy in time for training camp, backups ready and plenty), and if another team is willing to pay the price (Detroit, KC, SF, Chicago, whoever else).

No doubt BB is already working out some scenarios on who is a priority to re-sign and at what price from the likes of Wilfork, Seymour, Mankins, etc.
A lot will depend on which ones really want to stay at a reasonable price, and which ones are looking for top dollar. Ideally they all want to stay, and they sign multi-year deals after some speedy negotiations. But that's unlikely to happen, and we will have to say goodbye to one or two of those names. After that we will need to pay attention to sign replacements for the guys who left, either through free agency or through the draft.

We are in the middle of a rebuilding process, that of the defense, and we are still some parts away: a veteran safety, several more young speedy linebackers, another cornerback who can become a dependable starter.

 

[Brettlax3434]

Cassel will be kept for now - if all else fails, he will be the expensive backup to Brady. He will be traded if the QB situation is satisfactorily dealt with (Brady healthy in time for training camp, backups ready and plenty), and if another team is willing to pay the price (Detroit, KC, SF, Chicago, whoever else).

No doubt BB is already working out some scenarios on who is a priority to re-sign and at what price from the likes of Wilfork, Seymour, Mankins, etc.
A lot will depend on which ones really want to stay at a reasonable price, and which ones are looking for top dollar. Ideally they all want to stay, and they sign multi-year deals after some speedy negotiations. But that's unlikely to happen, and we will have to say goodbye to one or two of those names. After that we will need to pay attention to sign replacements for the guys who left, either through free agency or through the draft.

We are in the middle of a rebuilding process, that of the defense, and we are still some parts away: a veteran safety, several more young speedy linebackers, another cornerback who can become a dependable starter.

it is this rebuilding of the defence that will ensure cassel being traded.

 

[Jimke]

it is this rebuilding of the defence that will ensure cassel being traded.

Cassel will be traded because Bill Belichick does not think he is

worth 14.6 million dollars a year.

 

[Brettlax3434]

Cassel will be traded because Bill Belichick does not think he is

worth 14.6 million dollars a year.

and hes not worth it becuase under a cap no backup qb is worth that much. It would have to many negative effects on the other area's of the team.

 

[PatsDeb]

When you phrase it like that, the answer is pretty obvious. So why ask it?

I think you need to relax. This is going to give you a heart attack. You should drink from now until Feb 2007 and repeat to yourself "In BB I trust, In BB I trust, In BB I trust, In BB I trust..."

Hey PJ, looks like you have already taken your own advice and started drinking as Feb. 2007 occurred about 2 years ago!!

 

[Patjew]

Hey PJ, looks like you have already taken your own advice and started drinking as Feb. 2007 occurred about 2 years ago!!

LOL, I know, I'm a drunken idiot.

 

[IcyPatriot]

and hes not worth it becuase under a cap no backup qb is worth that much. It would have to many negative effects on the other area's of the team.

Yeah I'm thinking that also ... the side effects of the Matt Cassel pill have a negative impact on my overall health.

 

[nantucketguy]

B. we should resign guys and have 25M to play with to fill our voids in the defense in FA and sign our picks.

 

[AzPatsFan]

B. we should resign guys and have 25M to play with to fill our voids in the defense in FA and sign our picks.

I agree lets cut our over paid QBs and go with Gutz, alone. Then we won't have wasted money on clipboard holders QBs. You know, you only need one.

Than we have all that money for lots of FAs and rookies and other real bench warmers, to "increase our depth". It is more important who the 9th and 10th LBs are; and the seventh DL; and the 9th and 10 OLs are. Its critical who the 7th CB is; and the 6th S, as well.

It doesn't matter who calls signals. BB will just "Coach em up"...

sarcasm off]