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Pioli talks Patriots

Email|Link|Comments (8) Posted by Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Staff February 21, 2009 04:29 PM

INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli, now the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, took to the podium here at the NFL Scouting Combine and a lot of the questions he faced were about his old team.

One thing Pioli didn't want to talk about was the notion of him trading for franchised Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel. Kansas City would seem like a logical landing spot for Cassel, if the Patriots elect to trade him.

Sticking to the Patriots code of silence, Pioli respectfully avoided the subject of trading for Cassel.

"Free agency hasn't started. He's under the franchise tag, so I don't think it's anything we can even talk about or want to talk about," said Pioli, who was repeatedly asked about Cassel.

Here is a sampling of Pioli's answers on some other Patriots-related topics:

On Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio:
"Nick is a very bright, hard-working football guy. He's got a strong background. He's got a business background. He worked out in the private sector before he came back to coaching. He came into New England and worked in the scouting department and then went into coaching and scouting and back and forth. Nick is a great guy. He's one of hardest workers I know. He's a good football guy, but he also has a background in a lot of areas."

On competing with the Patriots for the same types of players:
"Todd [Haley] is a different coach from a different system, who is looking for different types of players skill set-wise. We're looking for big, tough, smart, disciplined football players, but what we're going to do schematically is not necessarily -- I'm not going to be coaching -- going to be the same thing that we did in New England.

"There will be different types of players that we'll be looking at for different positions. I don't think we're necessarily battling over the same players as New England. The players that I have to go out and get are different because we have a different coach, and he's running a different system with a different philosophy. Makeup-wise, they're very similar, but from a positional and skill-set standpoint it will be a little bit different."

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8 comments so far...

Casell is worthy of a first rounder. Where would you rather takes your chances. With a guy that's played 15 games or a kid that has played none

Posted by Jean Carl Parisien February 21, 09 05:20 PM

Mike, going off what Scott has to say, is there any way to get an idea of what type of system coach Haley is and how the players he wants might be different from the Pat's system? He's more an offensive coordinator, and since we don't know who the defensive coordinator is, we don't even know if it will be a 3-4 or a 4-3, right?

Posted by Mike Shea February 21, 09 06:26 PM

It's a good question, Mike. I think until we know specifics of the system, it's hard to tell. My feeling is that the system will end up being similar to the Patriots -- 3-4, bigger, physical players -- so I'd think the Chiefs will be looking for similar-type players. I don't have any inside info on that. Just a hunch.
--Mike

Posted by Mike Reiss February 21, 09 06:46 PM

Was it a surprise that Pioli said C-a-s-s-e-l has yet to sign his contract? If he has told the Pats he would be doing so, why wait? Could this be a wink-wink deal with the Patriots to help out trade negotiations in some way?

Posted by Ryan February 21, 09 07:32 PM

Just to add to the point made by Jean Carl Parisien, I say, "Oui!" Think Ryan Leaf, Joey Harrington, etc.. No matter how well they play in college, there is no guarantee of how QBs will play in the NFL. There's no substitute for seeing a QB succeed against NFL competition. There's no question that Cassel succeeded; even considering the fact that he was surrounded by a good team, and played a relatively easy schedule. It was still success, at the NFL level.

I'm going with the popular theory that KC will be Cassel's next team.

Posted by George Richman February 21, 09 08:17 PM

Yeah, you know Ryan, the silence is deafening! All the teams out there that we KNOW need a QB, and we KNOW are considering Cassel in their conversations, but some are even going so far as to say they are not even considering him (the 49ers as an example of that). What kills me is that the niners are considered to be genuinely interested in MICHAEL VICK! This is a QB who's average QB rating was 75, and has been out of football for a year (most of that in prison!).

cheers.

Posted by David February 21, 09 08:23 PM

Teams are just postering at this point and using the media to flood alot of disinformation. My guess is if you offered cassel to the niners for a 3rd round pick they would pick him up at the airport. Teams want to bring the price down. They want to steal this guy for a 2nd or possibly 3rd rounder. When all is said and done I see the pats getting a first round pick and maybe a 4th or 5th.

Posted by rickb101 February 22, 09 07:22 AM

And to those who think Cassel is a "system" QB. There are 32 systems in the NFL, if your system consistently produces poor results then its good business to sign players, coaches and front office people from systems that are consistently at the top of the NFL. So yes, Cassel is a system QB, a winning system. Just as Pioli is a system GM and McDaniels is a system coach�

Posted by sven February 22, 09 08:10 AM

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Mike Reiss, Christopher L. Gasper and the rest of the Globe team provide regular updates –and a behind-the-scenes look– on the daily happenings of the Patriots.

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