Give it time.
Other situations need to be resolved before Matt packs his bags. First of all, other teams will need to lock up their QBs.
1 Arizona needs to get the Warner deal done.
2 The Vikings will need to process the trade for Sage Rosenfals.
3 The Titans will deal with signing Collins.
4 Jeff Garcia is going to be interviewing around the league.
5 Donovan McNabb still has issues in Philly to work out.
6 Derek Anderson needs to find a new home and a contract negotiated.
7 Stafford and Sanchez have Pro Days to show off their tools.
And then I think Cassel get traded. Hopefully that is when a couple teams get desperate and call the Pats, but I hope I'm wrong and this whole thing is over many weeks before the draft.
Care to explain why you feel all this needs to get done prior to Matt being traded?
1. Arizona has Leinert, they are a non player
2. Who is to say the Vikings haven't already pitched their best offer to NE and were rebuffed or refused to beat the best current offer available to the Pats? And they A) did the same with Cleveland and resorted to Rosenfels or B) they like Rosenfels better than Anderson.
3. The Titans have a bunch of money tied up in VY which probably limits their willingness to invest big money long term in another QB. And Tennessee clearly wants Collins back, but they also have a good shot at resigning Simms - who could be their starter next year (2010). I doubt they have any interest in Cassel.
4. Garcia has 0 impact on Cassel. Garcia will sign with a team looking for a stop gap not a long term solution. Cassel is a long term solution, therefore a team would explore the possibility of Cassel prior to signing Garcia - not the other way around.
5. The only way Mcnabb impacts Cassel is if the Eagles have worked out a deal to trade McNabb and then have a deal consumated with NE for Cassel and all this is based on trust and it has to be executed within minutes of FA opening. This seems highly unlikely. And if a team is hoping to get McNabb and go after Cassel as a fallback, then they are foolish. So, Cassel's situation doesn't have anything to do with McNabb, IMO.
6. Anderson would be a 2nd, 3rd etc.. option for any team interested in Cassel. A team trades for him if they A) don't like the price tag (including draft picks) for Cassel or B) don't want to get in a bidding war for him and remove themselves (which is basically the same as A).
7. I think it is fairly obvious that not too many people consider either of them a top ten pick. A team would have to love them or not be willing to give up additional picks for Cassel or believe that they will fall to you near the 20's. I think this situation may remove a couple of teams from the mix, but ultimately has a minor impact on Cassel.
I would be shocked if a deal isn't already done. IMO, this is why the Vikings have settled on Rosenfels. Obviously this is just speculation, but it would be mind numbing to think that they didn't pitch their best offer to the Pats for Cassel. To which the Pats replied by saying "we have an offer in place, here it is, can you beat it?". And obviously the contract negotiation with Cassel's agent surely plays a big part in it as well.
