Cassel Franchised

And the Patriot's offseason officially begins today! As I'm sure you all have heard, the New England Patriots have put a non-exclusive franchise tag on Matt Cassel. Now that the Piolichick tandem has been broken, it's time to see what Belichick has in store for this us offseason.

Let me quickly say - a trade for involving Matt Cassel for any other player is unacceptable, especially if they involve Larry Johnson or Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is 33 and LJ is 29 and both players are on the back ends of their careers. Also - keep in mind players only excel if they fit within Belichick's system. Coaches and players have come and gone, succeeded with New England and turned into busts elsewhere. With the exception of Adalius Thomas & Roosevelt Colvin, it's been rare for the Patriots to go after the sexy players (I'm excluding Randy Moss in the argument because the trade was so lopsided, 4th round pick which we got in another trade, it was stupid not to get him.) Brady, unlike Bledsoe, has shown that he has not relied heavily on the TE in the passing game.

Consider these facts, there are quite a few teams right now with MAJOR needs at the QB position, Detroit, KC, Saint Louis, SF, Cincinatti, Chicago, NY Jets, Minnesota, Tennessee and possibly Buffalo. Jamarcus Russell stinks but no way Oakland gets another QB.

Now this, here are the QB's that were drafted in the 1st round since '05, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, JaMarcus Russell, Brady Quinn, Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler, Alex Smith, Aaron Rodgers & Jason Campbell. That's 6 starters and 5 busts. Of those 6 starters, only Cutler, Ryan, Rodgers & Flacco are legitimate. That's a 36% success rate for drafting a legitimate QB in the 1st round.

Now let's look at the financial penalties of drafting a QB in the first round. JaMarcus Russell signed a 6 year 68 million dollar contract with 38 million of it guaranteed. Vince Young signed a 5 year 58 million dollar contract with close to 26 million guaranteed, and he's been sitting on the bench to Kerry Collins, who made a mere $1.7 million last year.

Since this is a non-exclusive franchise, teams will be able negotiate with Cassell and have a contract in place before they approach the Patriots for a trade. I think it's very possible for a team to sign Cassel in the range of 5 yr 30-35 million contract, which is a real bargain compared to anybody drafted in the 1st round.

Here's an added twist, contrary to what Jerry Thornton wrote in his article on Barstool, ACL and MCL injuries are tough to come back from. I believe it takes 2 years to become 100%. Does Belichick consider trading 32 year old Brady and keeping the younger 26 year old Matt Cassel? I doubt it - like always, In Belichick We Trust.

Onto the draft - while I've heard a lot of people say we should draft a LB again, I dont believe that to be the case. We drafted Jerod Mayo last year who is an absolute man-beast and drafted Shawn Crable who was used sparingly before getting injured. The biggest find last year goes to Gary Guyton, who might've been in on more plays then Bruschi by years end. With Thomas coming back next year I think we have bigger needs then LB.

An interesting story line to look into is Richard Seymour. His cap number is approaching $10 million this year so I see either 1 of 2 things, restructure his contract or he's walking. Jarvis Green & Ty Warren have big contracts so I dont see us spending over $20 million in cap space on DE's, however important they are to Belichick's defensive scheme.

If Seymour walks, we could be drafting a DE early. A few other needs we have are OT (Matt Light is the most overrated player on our roster), safety and TE.

Whatever happens, the best coach in pro football will come out on top, and that's Bill Belichick. This should be one of the most exciting and anticipated Patriots offseason in a very long time.