What might Matt Cassel be worth in a trade?

Agreed. A young, proven starting NFL QB is worth a high 1 plus...look at what a high 1 gets you in the draft.

I would love to get Mariucci as our offensive coordinator.

It would be wise to keep matt cassel because of the fact that you don't know if tom is going to be ready to start or even play next season, yeah you could try to use o'connell, but with the departure of mcdaniels it might be difficult, unless they could get a coordinater like charlie wiess.

Even if you were to get a high 1 and 2 do you think that there's alot of talent in this years draft?

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read from an NFL commentator, and that's saying a lot.

First, Mariucci fails to mention the fact that you can't make such a direct comparison between an unrestricted free agent QB and one coming in the draft. A UFA can negotiate with anyone and everyone, which drives up the potential cost of his contract. A drafted player is restricted by virtue of the fact that he can only negotiate with one team, faces a rookie cap, and contract length limitations. Sure, a UFA will be a surer thing, but he'll also be much more expensive (with the possible exception of the first 8 or so slots in the draft)

Second, it's *impossible* for the Patriots to invest upwards of $25M in annual salary to the QB position. In the salary capped NFL, you don't have the luxury of keeping two expensive QBs. Nor is it a given that Cassel would want to remain on a team where he's guaranteed to be holding a clipboard. Even though these guys are largely driven by money, QBs still want to get on the field. We learned that in 2002.

Cassell isn't an unrestricted free agent, and he will get a salary similar to what a QB picked in the top 10 would get. The Patriots can sign him and trade him.

Contrary to post # 6, Cassel is an unrestricted free agent.

Matt Cassell is worth 2 first round picks. A team can sign him to a below market deal if he is franchised. A team like Detroit would be better off signing him as a franchise player because they wold be able to get out the dollars it cost to sign a the pick. Cassell would arguably be the best QB in the NFC north. They have the best reciever in the conference. They could be Miami of last year. Having the #1 pick would do more damage to the Pats salary cap than franchising Cassell.

HypeandSame,
Cassel is an unrestricted free agent. The Pats may choose to franchise him to trade him, but he's still allowed to negotiate with other teams (since it's unlikely that they place the restricted franchise tag on him, which costs more). In other words, it's still an open market for him. Yeah, it'll be tempered by the fact that someone will have to give up a draft pick to get him, which should reduce his contract a bit, but history says that it won't be terribly so.

What will he make in comparison to top 10 draft picks? I don't know. Probably less than a #1 overall but more than a #10 overall. Keep in mind, Flacco only got $8.75M in guaranteed money as the 2nd QB chosen (in the middle of the 1st).

You need two QB's that can start but 2 QB's making a combined $26 million sounds awfully high. I think that they trade Cassel for picks. The only thought I have is do you think he's throwing out this BS about coming back to NE in a back up role out there so that he doesn't get franchised? Thought being that if the Pats franchise him he'll sign the offer which means they're stuck with him. If Cassel appears to embrace that then they're less likely to franchise him thus he walks for nothing.

Despite Mark Z's babbling, Marriucci has this about right. Cassel is 26, has the athletic ability of a high 1st round quarterback and has proven that he can play. At 26, he's taken fewer hits than a typical college qb having sat on the bench the prior 7 years. Since the rookie wage scale is so high, signing a proven Cassel for a few million more is more sensible.

The Patriots will franchise Cassel. They do have enough cap roon (see www.patscap.com for a detailed breakdown of the patriots cap). However, as long as Brady is going to be able to play, I would bet they will trade him to clear some room for defense players and pick up another pick.

My vote is for Julius Peppers.

If they can get a 6th round pick, they've done good. Anything above that is icing, and it's looking like it'll be one sweet cake!

remember kevin o'connell - 3rd round pick - he is your quarterback of the future,
pats keep cassel untill they find out how healthy brady is, then he is traded is brady is fine, any problems with brady, he goes to ir again and cassel is your leader, also - who really thinks that mariucci is a dumb, to have his resume and be dumb, i don't think so

This is one of the deepest drafts in recent memory. It especially deep with 3-4 defensive players. If the pats can get two first day picks, they could really improve the defense,

Justin, what has Cassel proven aside from the fact that he can't throw accurate crossing patterns or downfield at all, for that matter? He's shown that he can take maybe the best offense in the history of the game and turn it into the 19th best offense of the 2008 season. He's shown that he can lead the league in sacks despite playing behind an offensive line that gave up the fewest sacks in the league a year ago.

And I disagree that they have enough cap space to afford to keep him. They need money to fill out the rest of the roster, sign draft picks, and have an injury fund. It's just not possible in today's NFL to carry two $14M quarterbacks without blowing up the rest of your team. Mariucci is dead wrong.

I'd take Patrick Willis from the 49ers straight up. Fixing the D is the priority. Cassel is a great chip that can be used in many ways: to get a player, to move up in the draft. First, we have to sign him though.

If Brady is healthy, and if the lions want to start rebuilding with a QB, then Cassel is the overall #1 "pick." The pats won't keep it, and will trade it down one or more times to get 1st and 2nd rounders. They'll roll those into defensive picks (the offense is relatively healthy, 2ndary and ILB need help).

If Brady is not healthy, well, yuck. You can trade Cassel as if TB would be healthy, and run Kevin O. Connell out and pray that he's M. Cassel #2. Hell of a risk. You can keep Cassel and then ... go broke. No room in space if you are franchising Cassel.

Here's an idea, we could keep him, in case Brady gets hurt...just thought.

Detroit needs a QB. They have a new GM. They also have 2 1st round picks & 2 3rd round picks thanx to the Roy Williams trade to Dallas. You think that GM is gonna risk a # 1 pick on an unproven QB from Georgia? Or is he gonna trade the # 20 pick in the 1st round & the 3rd round pick for Cassel? Then he has a proven QB, & Detroit needs results NOW. Not 3-5 years from now. Then we can use the # 20 pick to grab the LB from Ohio State & the #23rd pick to grab the CB Davis from Illinois. Why am I not the GM for the Pats????????

Matt Cassel will not draw much in a trade, IMO. He is still, an unproven one year wonder, with many deficencies that worked well in the Belichick system but may not in any other.

“I would be shocked if he’s playing for somebody else, because you have to have – in this day and age – two good quarterbacks,” he said. “And sometimes that’s not enough.”

Dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Spend $30 Million a year on two QBs. Sorry Marriuchi, but you can't spend $15 million for a guy to sit on a bench 'just in case.' Maybe we should try to sign Peyton Manning too when his contract expires, just in case.

Now I know why Mariucci got fired, he was trying to get the team to sign 10 All-Pro wide receivers.

Chuckles James Laurinitis from OHIO State can help but think Rey Malauaga can help us..He can blitz the QB, stop the run and cover TE's the said thing about him is that at the rate he is performing he would likely be a top 10 pick. But then again maybe someting our new GM will do.. I think they will really trade matt that is the reason the pick O'Connel to be Tom's Heir as the Starting QB.

Mariucci is probably the dumbest football guy on all of tv. I think his degree of personal charm and friendliness that he has must have opened a lot of doors for him in his career because he really doesn't know football very well.
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“I would be shocked if he’s playing for somebody else, because you have to have – in this day and age – two good quarterbacks,”..............I think he means "running backs", not "quarterbacks". At least that's the logic that most football people use. How many teams have two good quarterbacks? Virtually no one. A lot of teams don't even have one good QB.

I think the Patriots biggest nightmare is Cassel going to the Jets. If he becomes available to anyone who might simply sign him, it's almost 100% that he's going to the Jets. So (1) you don't know how well Brady will be able to play, (2) you don't want him going to the Jets, and (3) he's a very good player (passing and running) who will no doubt get better as he gains more and more experience. I don't think there's much question that the Patriots MUST sign him, either via the franchise tag or via negotiation. Then, if everything works out with Brady, you can seek to trade Cassel to a team where Cassel might not have much of a chance to hurt you.

As soon as you hear sports fans criticizing others opinions' as "the dumbest thing I ever heard" or "moronic", it reaffirms what idiots they are. Subjective opinions about something as trivial as sports can be "moronic"?

Quick, who can tell me the difference between a Shiite and a Suuni? Which Muslim sect sponsors Al Queda? How about Hamas? What do you think about Afghanistan? I doubt the genius who debates flavors of free agency has a clue.

BitterFan - way to demonstrate your vastly superior intellect, err...

The link between politics and football is so profound only something who reads International Affairs should manage a football team.

As soon as you see a sports fan trying to measure the intelligence of other sports fans by their knowledge of politics you know how big of an idiot they really are.

Quick, why don't you tell me what chemicals are required to purify water? What's Newton's third law of motion? Whats the conversion rate for km/hr to mp/hr? I doubt you have a clue.

I won't hold that against you, but if you think that any pro team needs 2 proven QBs you are unequivocally a moron.

MarkZ, i understand where your coming from with Cassels non existant ability to thorw the ball accurartely over 15 yards, but the whole offensie line bid was a joke. The pats offensive line was not THAT good. The reason they seemed so good was because most teams would only send 3,4, or 5 guys and drop the rest i coverage due to the prolific passing attack. When teams actually blitzed the pats lasr year, they got to Brady a lot. Look at the games the pats lost and almost lost. The Giants, Ravens, Colts, and Eagles...all blitzing teams. The O-line was mediocre at best last year.

I agree #27 and I also like where #16 is going with the Patrick Willis scenerio..... Cassell aside, do you think the Pats could go after a Dunta Robinson or Asomugha to help fix the secondary????? Thats my main concern....

Get a life pats fans, why would you give up number 1 and a 3 for a QB that you can get next year for free. Makes no sense at all, for Lions or Chiefs to make a move
like that. Miami spend money to get where they are at, these teams hate to spend
money

I will agree that Cassel was put into a system where he could excel much more than say playing for a second rate team, and definitely benefited from easy schedule. However the pats also lost a good chunk of their starters. Everyone was writing him off at the beginning of the season and he overcame most that was thrown at him. He handled the media better than most do and was quite exceptional. How much more can you ask of him? Watching him late in the year reminded me a little of Brady. Remember Cassel is pretty much a rookie even though this was his 4th year, and oddly is very comparable to Brady's first year as a starter.

Cassel is no Brady don't get me wrong, however he has a very bright future. The chances of Brady going down again aren't staggering. Brady will return to his greatness even if he has a slow start. We're talking about a QB that will go down in history as one of the top 5 if not higher. Mcnabb came back from the same injury as well as Palmer. And if you remember some guy named Manning came back from a knee injury and won the MVP. The pats WILL sign Cassel no matter what to get something in return.

I don't expect the pats to send him to lions, they wouldn't wish that monstrosity upon him. They will send him to second tier team (most likely in the NFC), get a 1st rounder somewhere in the early to middle stages, as well as a couple more in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Remember the pats had the 6th or 7th pick last year and traded down for more picks to get Mayo, the unanimous AFC Rookie of the year.

The Patriots don't go after stars, they don't like the hype or spending money. Who knew who Bruschi was before the superbowls? How about Asante Samuel? Straight outta UCF! Patriot nation booed when Seymour got drafted. Wes Welker? He was awesome in miami.....And I can't help to throw Brady's name in that mix too. 6th roundah!

Bellicheck is smart man, and he's played everyone once again into thinking Brady's return was in doubt. He drove up the price for Cassel. He will most likely draft a solid LB and DB, maybe someone underneath the radar. Bellicheck salivating at the mouth (if you could imagine him having any expression) with the mess they're in right now. Who thought that when Brady went down that there was any upside to it? Brady and Moss will return next season and make the NFL remember who the real # 12 is. The Brady-Manning, Roethlisberger, Rivers games are undoubtedly the best match-ups the NFL has to offer. I miss it, don't all NFL enthusiasts? They will come back to be the dominate force they were. It's inevitable.

Everyone is talking about going after a corner in the first round... Leigh Bodden has been officially released by the Lions. New England would be a perfect place for the 27 year-old to resurrect his career. He has good size and football intelligence. Belichick should bring him for a tryout as soon as he can.