Adam Schefter on WEEI

[SVN]

Adam Schefter, NFL Network
its funny him getting into felger. Felger criticizes the pats for not spending whereas schefter admonishes him that they are always willing to spend. interesting.

 

[JSn]

Felger's way out of his league. lol

 

[SVN]

Best was when schefter schooled felger why jets would not have cut pennington if they had salary cap space.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Would somebody mind summarizing for those of us who can't listen at work? Thanks!

 

[JSn]

Would somebody mind summarizing for those of us who can't listen at work? Thanks!

Yep. Felger talks a lot. Schefter KNOWS a lot.

They do an automatic transcription which is sketchy but should show up soon via Reiss' site.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Yep. Felger talks a lot. Schefter KNOWS a lot.

They do an automatic transcription which is sketchy but should show up soon via Reiss' site.

Is it sketchier than RealPlayer?

 

[JSn]

Is it sketchier than RealPlayer?

Amazingly, yes.

 

[fair catch fryar]

Yep. Felger talks a lot. Schefter KNOWS a lot.

They do an automatic transcription which is sketchy but should show up soon via Reiss' site.

That sums it up right there.

 

[lostjumper]

Would somebody mind summarizing for those of us who can't listen at work? Thanks!

Felger listed a couple of years where the Pat's spent big, and then said last year they didn't spend anything last year. Felger then asked if the Pat's were actually going to spend money this year.

Schefter first corrected Felger, and said they did spend money last year tying up their own free or restricted free agents, including a 3 year 27 mil deal for Randy. Felger then tried to qualify his comment by saying "new" players, but Schefter blew him off. Then he said the Krafts are more than willing to spend money, just want to spend it in a responsible manner on players that aren't overpriced an fit the system.

Felger came off as ignorant in his criticism of the pats.

 

[DaBruinz]

Felger came off as ignorant in his criticism of the pats.

Hasn't this been a fact about Felger for years? I'm pretty sure that guys like Keegs and Briz and NSA know more about the Pats than Felger does..

 

[NEGIRLPATSFAN]

What the %ell is he talking about that if they Franchise Cassel, Wilfork will leave? anyone else hear that? what??

 

[spacecrime]

What the %ell is he talking about that if they Franchise Cassel, Wilfork will leave? anyone else hear that? what??

Don't say this out loud. All the "Franchise Cassel" folks are in denial about a couple of facts:

1. Franchising Cassel takes away $15 million of our cap space, until he is traded, which might not happen immediately if his agent is a tough bargainer.

2. Our players who become FAs next year will hit the market March 1. We will have to try to sign our FAs and sign other team's FAs using only the cap money remaining after the $15 mil Cassel hit.

3. Signing without a big cap space will be tough because you can no longer pro-rate a signing bonus for the entire length of the contract. Most of the money is taken off the cap this year.

4. By the time Cassel is traded, our best FAs would have had a taste of big dollars in Free Agency and may have already signed with other teams. We can't franchise them while working out a deal because we are using the tag on Cassel.

5. It isn't even a certainty that Cassel can be traded if he is franchised. If he doesn't like the team or what they are offering, he simply refuses to sign a long term deal with that team and kills the trade.

But still the cry is, "It's a no brainer. We should franchise Cassel." Actually, I agree with the no brainer part of the idea


Chance losing our own FAs and lose the ability to sign otehr FAs to try to get a first or second round pick, when we'll get a 3rd round pick by losing him to FA anway? Sure.

Funny thing is, the folks crying loudest to not let Cassel go are the ones who were screaming to cut him last September.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Hasn't this been a fact about Felger for years? I'm pretty sure that guys like Keegs and Briz and NSA know more about the Pats than Felger does..

I think Keegs should feel more insulted by that comparison than Felger.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

What the %ell is he talking about that if they Franchise Cassel, Wilfork will leave? anyone else hear that? what??

I didn't hear it, so I didn't get the context, but he could mean that if they keep Cassel by franchising him, they won't be able to afford to keep Wilfork.

3. Signing without a big cap space will be tough because you can no longer pro-rate a signing bonus for the entire length of the contract. Most of the money is taken off the cap this year.

That's an overstatement. There are rules that make it harder to spread out money, but SBs can still be pro-rated (because the CBA assumes that the salary cap might be kept in future agreements).

5. It isn't even a certainty that Cassel can be traded if he is franchised. If he doesn't like the team or what they are offering, he simply refuses to sign a long term deal with that team and kills the trade.

Remember, though, that he'll listen to almost any other team, because they'd be able to give him something the Pats probably can't--the chance to be the long-term starter.

Chance losing our own FAs and lose the ability to sign otehr FAs to try to get a first or second round pick, when we'll get a 3rd round pick by losing him to FA anway? Sure.

May get a 3rd-round pick . . . in 2010.

 

[Deus Irae]

Don't say this out loud. All the "Franchise Cassel" folks are in denial about a couple of facts:

1. Franchising Cassel takes away $15 million of our cap space, until he is traded, which might not happen immediately if his agent is a tough bargainer.

That still leaves the team with money to spend. The team will be about $22 million under the cap not counting that franchise tag, according to Miguel.

2. Our players who become FAs next year will hit the market March 1. We will have to try to sign our FAs and sign other team's FAs using only the cap money remaining after the $15 mil Cassel hit.

Again, the team will still have money to spend.

4. By the time Cassel is traded, our best FAs would have had a taste of big dollars in Free Agency and may have already signed with other teams. We can't franchise them while working out a deal because we are using the tag on Cassel.

Have you looked at who "our best FAs" are before coming to the conclusion that this will be a major concern?

5. It isn't even a certainty that Cassel can be traded if he is franchised. If he doesn't like the team or what they are offering, he simply refuses to sign a long term deal with that team and kills the trade.

How many players have done as you're suggesting in the past decade?

 

[billdog3484]

if im not mistaken, cant we always just take the tag off a player at any time? if that is the case, and im correct, if we were worried about losing a particular player (which I dont know who wed be worred about besides wilfork), we could just wait it out as long as possible. And, another positive to franchising Cassel would be that we can control where he went. even if we HAD to get rid of him at some point due to money concerns with free agency waiting, if we only got a 7th rounder for him, thatd be ok because we could ship him to the NFC to the Lions or something

 

[BPF]

Don't say this out loud. All the "Franchise Cassel" folks are in denial about a couple of facts:

1. Franchising Cassel takes away $15 million of our cap space, until he is traded, which might not happen immediately if his agent is a tough bargainer.

2. Our players who become FAs next year will hit the market March 1. We will have to try to sign our FAs and sign other team's FAs using only the cap money remaining after the $15 mil Cassel hit.

3. Signing without a big cap space will be tough because you can no longer pro-rate a signing bonus for the entire length of the contract. Most of the money is taken off the cap this year.

4. By the time Cassel is traded, our best FAs would have had a taste of big dollars in Free Agency and may have already signed with other teams. We can't franchise them while working out a deal because we are using the tag on Cassel.

5. It isn't even a certainty that Cassel can be traded if he is franchised. If he doesn't like the team or what they are offering, he simply refuses to sign a long term deal with that team and kills the trade.

But still the cry is, "It's a no brainer. We should franchise Cassel." Actually, I agree with the no brainer part of the idea


Chance losing our own FAs and lose the ability to sign otehr FAs to try to get a first or second round pick, when we'll get a 3rd round pick by losing him to FA anway? Sure.

Funny thing is, the folks crying loudest to not let Cassel go are the ones who were screaming to cut him last September.

My thoughts on your points.

1.) The $14 mil to $15 mil in cap space the Pats momentarily lose should not pose a big problem, because the Pats always seem to take a long term view on things and acquiring a 1st or 2nd Rd pick for a former 7th Rd pick is good business.

2.) With the exception of Cassel none of our FA's are big money guys. Here are the restricted and unrestricted FA's for 2009. RFAs: Eric Alexander, Wesley Britt and Pierre Woods. UFA's: Matt Cassel, Heath Evans, Jabar Gafney, Chris Hanson, Rodney Harrison, Russ Hochstein, Larry Izzo, LaMont Jordan, Detha O'Neal, Lonie Paxton, James and Lewis Sanders, Tank Williams and Mike Wright. There's certainly some players in FA I'd like the Pats to go after but with the exception of Nnamdi Asomugha, Albert Haynesworth and Karlos Dansby no one I would throw big $ at.

3.) Franching Cassel would be a 1 yr deal.

4.) Irrelevant, you can't let a QB get away for nothing in this league, especially one you developed for 4 yrs. It's a QB driven league and without a guality player under center teams are not succesful so they will pay for quality.

5.) Once again, it's a QB driven league and teams will step up to acquire him. Think Matt Schaub, Rob Johnson, Scott Mitchell, etc. players that had much less experience and got big $ deals. I'm also sure Cassel would go to any team via trade that needs a starting QB, same as he would in FA. A team with a legitimate starting QB would certainly not go after him.

It's ok to disagree on things, I'm sure some think it's a good idea to franchise Cassel, while others don't. We'll see what happens after the season but for now let's enjoy the final two games and hopefully we get into the playoffs.

 

[fnordcircle]

There is no way that a QB who won 11 games and clearly progressed through the season will not get trade offers.

Derek Anderson got an offer of a first rounder and a third rounder. You do not let that sort of compensation just walk out the door.

This argument is moot, though, because the organization is going to make the right choice this year, like they do every year, when it comes to assigning value to and getting value from their players. A fact that Felger is being an idiot about.

You can't just spend just to spend and then watch as better players (Wilfork, Mankins) walk out the door. There's a reason why the Pats have a brighter future than the Redskins and the Jets and it has to do with their business-like approach to the salary cap and player values.

 

[tombonneau]

There is no way that a QB who won 11 games and clearly progressed through the season will not get trade offers.

Derek Anderson got an offer of a first rounder and a third rounder. You do not let that sort of compensation just walk out the door.

Derek Anderson is one of the bigger problems with the tag-n-trade Cassel scenario. DA got a huge extension and high comp offers in trade, and then crapped the bed in 08. Hopefully, this doesn't make too many GMs gun shy in trading for a QB like Cassel who was good for "just one year."

Of course, the flip side to that is that DA regressed the second half of the 07 season whereas Cassel progressed the second half of 08 ...

 

[JSn]

I think we need to recognize that as BB is to coaching genius, Kraft is to Biz genius. There's no way there won't be quiet little chats about what's best for both the team AND the player.

And we need to know that if there is ANY legitimate concern about TFB, Cassel will be the man.