Machiavelli of Foxborough

THE CONSPIRACY theories sparked by the Patriots' trade of quarterback Matt Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel to Kansas City for a high second-round draft choice are worthy of downtown Beirut. If the Securities and Exchange Commission had examined Bernard Madoff with a fraction of the skepticism being lavished on coach Bill Belichick's juggling of the Pats' roster, the con man's fleeced investors would still have title to their yachts and Palm Beach estates.

But the intensely competitive Belichick did not attain his professional preeminence by peddling talented players at discount prices. Critics of the Cassel trade risk putting themselves in the position of a tourist who thinks he knows that a rug merchant in the Tehran bazaar has sold a couple of carpets too cheap.

The most risible conspiracy theory has Belichick conspiring with Scott Pioli - his former New England colleague and present Kansas City general manager - to swing a sweetheart deal so favorable to the Chiefs that one sportswriter has called for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to investigate the transaction.

The reality is that the last-minute offers of a slightly higher draft pick for Cassel came too late.

Vrabel had to be traded before Monday or the Pats would have had to pay him $1 million toward his 2009 salary. And once the Vrabel segment of the trade with Kansas City was completed, the Cassel part pretty much had to follow.

But one need not pity the Pats as patsies. Belichick now has cap space to sign free agents and he will have four draft picks in the first four rounds next month - all for less than the price of one first-rounder in the top eight slots. Machiavelli's prince does not do altruism.