Video: Reiss on Cassel's future

Mike, you talk about potential suitors in a Cassel trade being Detroit, Carolina, and Tampa Bay. What about Kansas City? Do you think that a trade with Pioli could be a possibility? The philosophy in the NFL seems to be to build around a franchise type quarterback and maybe Pioli thinks enough of Cassel to pull the trigger on a trade and build the offense around him. Thanks for your world class coverage of the Patriots.

Hi Rob. I agree. KC is a possibility. I think it's intriguing.
--Mike

Pats cannot risk Brady not being able to perform from the start of training camp.
An extremely serious knee injury complicated by a number of infections.
Pay Cassel what it takes to keep him for another year at least. His value will not go down if Brady comes back strong. Great trade material when a starting Q-back goes down for another team during the season, which always happens.
Changing a system when required is part of a great system. CAnnot afford to miss another playoff series next season!!

TRADE BRADY FOR TAMPA'S DEFENSE AND FIRST TWO PICKS. SORT OUT THE PLAYERS YOU DON'T WANT, AND YOU HAVE TWO LOW PICKS

Many people, including my father had these sentiments when the Patriots missed the playoffs: "Well it's disappointing, but they had a great season. And in reality, they weren't going to win the whole thing anyways, so it's really not a big deal." While at the time I was probably in the group that more or less agreed with this sentiment, the last two rounds have shown yet again that ANY team that makes the tournament can win the whole thing. The point is, personnel decisions (perhaps unlike they should be made in MLB) should be made with the goal in mind of simply MAKING the playoffs, building the perfect team to win 19 straight games is unneccsary. I'm not sure how this point directly relates to the Cassel decision, but nonetheless I think it is valid.

The Patriots are in a strange position. Their franchise quarterback is down with career altering injury and they have a young quarterback who showed potential with a hurt team. What is the possibility that: A) The Pats look to trade BRADY and keep Cassel B) That Brady would look for a trade so that he may find glory once again but with a new team C) That the Pats simply let Cassel walk and put their faith into believing that Brady will be 100% next season.

Not that I want to see it, but I definitely see option A as something that acutally benefits the Patriots. Brady is now in his 30's and has to recover from a pretty serious injury. Why bother carrying the team through his recovery process instead of cashing in now? If you trade Brady, you could get a slew of decent players or another superstar at a position that desperately needs it, say somewhere in the secondary. I don't know if Brady has a "no trade clause" but if he does it, would/should the Pats do it?

Mike,
Do you think the Pats already have an idea about Brady's condition? If they franchise and then trade Cassel that would most likely mean that Brady is coming along one would think. They are not going to trust this ship with O'Connell are they?

You people can be so short sighted.

Matt Cassel had a record setting offense at his disposal and finally started to show great flashes in the final 6 games. Can anyone say Derek Anderson???

After everything Brady has done with no weapons and limited options, and your so fast to crown Cassel and trade Brady? Its quite pathetic really. Look at the whole picture, there is way more risk in keep Cassel than Brady unless Brady is truly physically incapable of playing at a pro bowl level again. As long as Brady can come back to a managable health, thats 5 more years of a HOF QB on your team. How can so many fans be oblivious to the overall facts and picture and ask for Brady to be traded?

Mike you should write a piece on the relativity between the two players and the risk that would come in either scenario if you have not already. I truly cant think of one game where Cassel connected for numerous over 20 yard passes(before YAC)... Pats have great weapons, led the league in YAC, take the crown off Cassel and open your eyes...

Brady deserves more because he will give you more.. Franchise Cassel and trade him, and then say good luck tot he guy.

Joe says it all! Great stuff, Joe, and right on the money.. trade Brady..hah! a HOF'r.. lol.. what goofs.

Mike,

My feeling is that Cassel will be franchised and traded regardless of Brady's health. In short, the reasons are:

1. they have a valuable player in Cassel. even if you just consider him a league average QB, that is worth a lot. look at the recent history of 1st round QB picks - it's not pretty. if you want a QB, why wouldn't you spend a 1st round pick on a guy with NFL experience AND upside?

2. the Pats are smart enough to get what they can from valuable players. in this case, that is draft picks.

3. they won't want to tie up $29m in 2 QB's. this would be the case if they franchise him

3. Cassel's value is high right now. I doubt they want to risk him having a poor season next year and being stuck with 2 long term QB contracts.

4. plenty of teams out there need a QB.

5. the Pats have prepared for this scenario by drafting a QB in the 3rd round last year. I don't know what they think of him, but plans to exist should Brady not be ready.

Joe - excellent point. I read somewhere that a little over half of Cassel's passing yards this season came after the catch. Clearly, Cassel's success was just as much a result of Welker/Faulks ability to gain additional yards as it was Cassel's actual ability.

Mike, do you know what percentage of Brady's passing yards last year came after the catch?

Patriots had the 3rd lowest payroll in the league in 2008, about $92M according to USA Today. They were about $24M under the $116M salary cap. Only Baltimore and Kansas City had smaller payrolls. The money is there but I am not sure about the will of this ownership group anymore. They just dumped a pile of money into a giant retail mall at the worst possible time for retail. My guess is that they are using the football team for quick cash and will stay conservative with the payroll.

Joe, I don't think anyone is saying, "Trade Brady, Cassel's the future, end of story!". While I agree with you that anyone who truly believes Cassel is a better option than a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT healthy Brady is nuts, you do have to consider the possibility that, due to his injury, we may have seen the last of Brady in his prime. I think that's what you have to prepare for. And we all know, we'll never TRULY know the extent of Brady's injury because the team loves to keep that stuff secret. But his knee injury was severe, and he may never be the same again. So all we can do is speculate. I say franchise Cassel, keep him around until you know without a doubt Brady is 100%, then trade him. And if he's not 100%, we're still in a better position with Cassel than more than half the teams in the league.

Joe, I don't think anyone is saying, "Trade Brady, Cassel's the future, end of story!". While I agree with you that anyone who truly believes Cassel is a better option than a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT healthy Brady is nuts, you do have to consider the possibility that, due to his injury, we may have seen the last of Brady in his prime. I think that's what you have to prepare for. And we all know, we'll never TRULY know the extent of Brady's injury because the team loves to keep that stuff secret. But his knee injury was severe, and he may never be the same again. So all we can do is speculate. I say franchise Cassel, keep him around until you know without a doubt Brady is 100%, then trade him. And if he's not 100%, we're still in a better position with Cassel than more than half the teams in the league.

Joe: Thanks for saving me some typing. This talk about trading Brady is insanity. Let's see how Cassel does without Welker and Moss.

TUNAH5 (above) wrote earlier: "Trade Brady for Tampa's defense and first two picks. Sort out the players you don't want, and you have 2 low picks."

Duh. Snow birding here in the greater Tampa area allowed me to read about/view that "vaunted" defense. Yes, that defense that fell apart in December losing all four games and turning a 9 - 3 season (and headed to the playoffs as a #2 seed) into a 9 - 7 season and a miss of the playoffs. Defense back Barber is showing his age big time, among others. Regarding Brady and/or Cassel, let the Krafts and Big Bill decide...it is their money and their job...smile.

Regarding Brady and/or Cassel

Thanks, but no thanks on getting their defense.

Minnesota needs a QB and has some studs on D we could use

How do you establish trade value for an injured QB behind in his rehab schedule?

What sort of cap damage does trading him do to your team?

Folks, the teams winning in the playoffs have been doing it with defense. If Flacco is considered a wonderkid for completing 50% of his passes while the Mannings, and Rivers are home then that should tell you a lot.

The Pats need to worry about reloading on defense and fast with some quality players.

NOT CONSIDERING a trade that includes Brady is not only dumb, it would be derelict of the Patriots as a business and competitive team to not consider such - every year! The goal is to constantly work to improve our team; flexibility with all parts of the organization, including its superstars and even their coach is imperative. Prior to this year trading Brady would never likely have improved our club. Now, with Cassel showing promise, Cassel's age being late 20's (vs. Brady at 32?), Brady's value still being extremely high and a Pats defense that clearly needs an influx of talent in the back 7, the reasons for doing so are far more intriguing. The best ownership and management targets improvement, not sentiment. Go Pats!

Any talk of trading Brady is ludicrous, do you people know anything about football at all? Last I checked Cassell wasn't even able to take this team to the playoffs despite a cupcake schedule and you want to him to replace Brady? I also seem to remember Cassell was horrible against any team that mattered this year as well. Brady will be fine all he needs to do is throw the football and move a bit in the pocket, mobility was never his strong suit anyway. I suggest some of you watch the 2007 season and the years prior to that and get this Cassell idiocy out of your heads.

Brady's the man. He's not going anywhere. Still it amazes me when people start discounting the year Cassell had. That whole "he's a product of the system" stuff. I challenge the notion that he was surrounded by great players. That offensive line certainly wasn't great. The tight-ends aren't great and the running game wasn't consistently there to support him. That "great" defense wasn't giving Cassell loads of extra opportunities to get out on the field.

Anyone who has watched the Pats over the years knows that for quite some time they've used the short pass as an extension of their running game. What Cassell did was nothing new. Does Cassell need to work on throwing the deep ball? Yes! Absolutely. But over the years Brady has worked on that part of his game too.

I don't know how successful he'll be down the road but I think there are several teams that would love to have Matt Cassell. Roll the dice. Tag him and trade him.

TYLER: Just a quick look @ NFL stats Brady had around 1616yds YAC between Welker, Moss, and Faulk, (Total pass yds 4806). This yr Cassel had around 1601yds between Welker, Moss,Faulk and Stallworth (Total pass yds 3700). I couldn't find total YAC stat, but Brady surely benifited as much as Cassel in this category (Welker had 758yds in '07, and 640 in '08).

Anyone believe that Cassell is a "franchise" is out of their mind. Cassell is a product of a system, coach with what is probably the best in the NFL, surrounded by some of the best players in the league and has face louy team after louzy.
To see what Cassell would do on an average team, review the game against the Steelers where his real level was exposed.
I believe that another louzy run NFL team (e.g. Lions or Raiders) will shell the big bucks for Cassell and wave him in two years.
The Patriots, being the smart team they are will only franchise him to trade him for to that stupid team which will hold great draft pick position.
If Pioli brings him to KC, then he will prove that Bellichick was 90% of the brain and him only 10%. If Pioli is as good as it has been reported, he will laughing at the idea of bringing Cassell.

Cassell is simply not that good and smart football people know that.

Anyone talkign about trading Brady and keeping Cassell should go back playing PS3 or Xbox360 where they belong.

I don't think you trade the best quarterback in the NFL. Tom Brady is the Tiger Woods of the NFL. If he can't play, he won't. He's not going out there to be a half a$$ed quarterback. He's a big, strong, tough kid and I feel confident he'll be ready come opening day next season. Guys like him and Peyton Manning are magic in the pocket. He will be fine. I think the Pats have to franchise Cassel just in case though. If Brady comes back healthy, they will have viable trade options with Cassel.

The Derek Anderson comparisons are as facile as they are specious. Anyone with two eyes saw that once defenses caught up to him, the DA from the second half of '07 was far inferior to the DA of the first half of '07.

Conversely, Cassel improved exponentially from the first half of the season to the second (*after* DCs got footage on him).

And as far as those who think that Cassel was no more a product of the offense and that "any decent QB could put up stats with that talent", ask Cowboys fans about Brad Johnson & Brooks Bollinger.

Just because you're behind the wheel of a race car, it doesn't mean you're a race car driver.

With Bradford and Tebow returning to college, Cassel is looking better and better as trade bait by the minute

Joe - as you compare Cassell to Derek Anderson, I too can compare Brady to Carson Palmer. While not the proven winner that Brady is, Palmer was definitely on the rise in 2005 and 2006 w/ a QB rating that was as good or better than Brady's. Since Palmer's knee injury (which was similar to Brady's) he has been on a steady decline, is not the same QB, and is now having elbow troubles. I think it is shortsighted to assume that Brady will to return to form next year and beyond. I'm not on the "Trade Brady" train yet, but I wouldn't trade Cassel until Brady has led this team back to the playoffs.

The Pats are looking at 2 big questions at QB: (1) Who is the long term answer at QB and (2) Who is the starting QB next year assuming that TB is not ready.

The answer to (1) should be obvious - Brady. This was the same offense as last year's record-setting crew, only with Cassel at the helm. Sure Laurence "the dancer" was hurt, but people around tend to like Sammy Morris better anyway. Cassel had the benefit of the system plus the Pats rather easy schedule this year. The only name teams he beat were the Jets and Dolphins (remember how much everyone said they sucked during Week 17), and an Arizona team that took regular dives on the east coast.

Pats are better off saying bye to Cassel and getting a competent backup to start the year and who can give way to TB when he returns. Cassel has "bust" just waiting to erupt once he leaves this offensive machine. The danger with franchising him is that Cassel might sign it, and teams would be leery of paying him this much to QB a team with much less weapons.

To all of you morons bandying about the notion that trading Tom Brady could be a viable option for the New England Patriots I have a suggestion for you, DO NOT BREED! On the chance the being an idiot could be hereditary DO NOT BREED! Make an appointment tomorrow to get yourself snipped. There are already far to many idiots in the world and we don't need the like of you spawning any more! You should take up knitting or basket weaving or some other hobby where you likely won't be able to embarrass yourself. Tom Brady never has to pay for another drink in this town, you on the other hand should join AA.

Some day Brady will be gone some day Cassell will be gone and we will still have a quarterback of the Patriots. It will be interesting to see how the future unfolds.

Anthony....are you kidding me? You mentioned 3 options of which MAYBE 1 or 2 of viable. 2 of your 3 mention TB gone. How quickly we forget!

Actually, Cassel to Anderson wasnt a relative example so much as an example of which direction an unproven QB can go. Brady is not unproven, Matt is... Most of you were calling for his head after 9 games... now you want him to replace a HOF QB?? I like what goaway said, DONT BREED! It embarasses me to tell people Im a Pats fan when Pats fans are saying trade Brady. Objectively speaking, if Brady truly cant return to form and they keep Matt for insurance thats fine. And if Matt gets better and proves himself more while Brady never elevates to where he was, then maybe that scenario of trading Brady takes place. As of right now, anyone saying trade Brady is very shortsighted. PLEASE DONT BREED :) And by the way, Brady is not Palmer, Brady finds ways to win no matter who he has on his team.

The one thing about Tom Brady that most people forget that the Patriots' brass will never forget, is that Brady signed a long term contract for considerably less than the going market in order to help the team remain competitive.

People like the Kraft's and BB don't forget those things. Brady will leave the Patriots only when he decides to leave, if ever.

that's it phil?!?!!!!
how prophetic....some day neither will be playing, so who cares who's playing right now?!!!?
Wake up dummy, that's neither here nor there

Guys...do you honestly think the Patriots will trade Tom Brady for a bunch of unproven drafts and what not? Has any one of you been to Patriots Place lately? The one thing that strikes you in the face when you're there is TOM BRADY EVERYWHERE. He's the face of our beloved Patriots team and that means money for Mr. Craft and the Patriots brand. It's one thing to talk about sports side of the things, but ultimately it's all economics and Brady is the most bankable guy from that perspective.

Surprisingly a complete evaluation for Reiss, definitely a good change from the bland "state the facts" attitude that he usually brings to every posting or video. However, expand and elaborate a little; do you think that the Pats will definitely pursue the franchise option, if so what do you think their reason for changing their ways is? If they do this, it must mean that they don't believe Brady is rock solid for a full return next season? Can you clear up the rumor mill for us a little bit? What are the chances that Cassel gets franchised, Brady isn't himself, and they sign Matt to a longterm deal? How do you think this would work out, what would Brady do? Help us out a little, you spend more time than any of the press around this team!!!

Dan O - You sound like a pretty intelligent man, so help me understand what I am missing?
Let's see, Brady is not proven to be healthy yet, correct? And within the Pat's mode of operation mantra, we are not going to know until well into training camp at best, agreed? Or maybe you have the "super secret decoder ring" for additional information.

OK, can you name any team that would trade for Brady NOW before knowing he is healthy? And what would you suggest would be "good value" in return not knowing his condition? Let me guess, you envision another "H. Walker" type trade? Oops, lesson learned throughout the NFL !

You say "derelict" if they don't consider this trade possibility,,,, I say if any team does "due diligence" and agrees to trading for Brady before knowing Brady's health, in return I would want the keys the stadium, the naming rights, and at least Celine Dion included in the package.
GO PAT'S

Joe absolutely nailed it. Dumping Brady for Cassel makes no sense.

Anybody who says trade Brady is a yahoo. Brady will go down as one of the top 3 QB's of all time. He still has 4 to 5 good years left. Rivers had the same injury last year and finished this season with the best passer rating in the NFL. All this trade Brady talk is making me sick. SHUT UP...PLEEEEEEEEEESE. For the love of averything that is sacred.

I wonder if Belichick's ego will play into this situation. He stunk it up for 6 years in Cleveland. Then, he has success in New England, but lots of people think it's mainly because of Brady. Last year, it was no Brady and no playoffs. I wonder if Belichick will take it as a coaching challenge to prove that he CAN win without Tom Brady and trade Brady away. Obviously, he's going to do what he thinks is right for the team, but as a competitor, it has to be in the back of his mind that people will say this about him forever until he proves otherwise. Belichick loves a challenge. Maybe the next coaching challenge for him is to win without Spying or Tom Brady. That may be the only way to silence the critics.

As far away as I am in Florida and a big pats fan here is how I see it..Teams that are only a QB away from playoffs are T Bay,Minny,and Washington never mind Detroit they will always stink Matt Millen ruined that team for decades and the owner ship only wants to make money..All the above teams have the pieces in place for a playoff run and need a good QB.Never mind who's on the roster now for Qb's they all at best backups hear that back ups never mind their stats 3-5 yard passes and hopefully a bunch of yards after the catch..Stats are very misleading,,Trade Cassel for what you can get..draft picks and hope nothing else happens to Brady..

Trading Brady is ridiculous! The message-posters on the message-boards of this very website were saying the Pats should have CUT Cassel in AUGUST! Now the very same idiots that were wrong then are wrong now saying trade Brady! Brady is still young. Look at Kurt Warner. He is 37! Do you think he is better than Brady? Do you think Brady will be worse than him when he is 37? COME ON! He is a QB. The list of sub-par, non Super Bowl winning, non UNDEFEATED, NON PASSING TD RECORD HOLDING, Hall of FAME QB's is about a mile long at any age! Brady is one of a kind and has proven to the Patriots and the fans how great he is. How many superbowls do you think the Patriots would have won without Brady? 1? 2? 3? ZERO? WAKE UP. Put in your Championship DVD's from 2001, 2003, 2004. Watch your Tivo of Brady taking the receiverless patriots 2 minutes from the 06 Super Bowl against a loaded Colts team. Take a look at every game of 2007. What ever happened to loyalty?! Does anyone remember the 80's and early 90's? A team without a stud QB is a non-playoff team. Look at the 2008 Patriots for proof. Trade Cassel, get the most possible for him and be thankful that he wasn't cut after the 2008 pre-season.
GO PATS!