The Patriots traded QB Matt Cassel and veteran LB Mike Vrabel yesterday to the Kansas City Chiefs for … the 34th overall pick in the 2009 draft. That’s it. A lot of fans think the Patriots got robbed, and in a way they did. But this actually was a pretty decent trade which worked out well for everyone involved on the New England side of the fence.
Consider the following:
- If the Patriots hadn’t franchised Cassel they would have gotten nothing for him. He would have walked away as a free agent.
- Had they not franchised Cassel, his next team would have gotten him for a lot less than the franchise salary. So in the numbers game, this keeps his new team from getting their starting QB for cheap.
- Given that Cassel was a backup most of his career, and a late round pick when selected, the Patriots converted that into a high pick in the upcoming draft, plus scraped out an 11-5 season with him when everyone expected the Patriots to fall when Brady fell.
- Cassel gets his pay day, just not at Robert Kraft’s expense. It is unlikely he would get the same starting pay were he not franchised.
- Vrabel’s performance fell off last year and if the Patriots are planning to draft/trade for a younger starting LB, then Vrabel may not have been a starter by the end of the season. In KC, he will be a starter and a captain of the team.
- The Patriots free up a lot of cap space so they can make other deals to fill the various needs of the team.
Could they have waited it out and maybe gotten a better deal? Probably. Tampa was also in the mix late. But this deal also helps Scott Pioli in KC – he now has a relaible starting QB and a veteran LB to lead his defense. This is not to say that Cassel will repeat his performance of last year for KC – he won’t have nearly the same amount of talent around him, and there’s a new coaching staff also getting up to speed. But in a year or so – he’ll be fine. And the Chargers’ “dynasty” will soon come to a close.
More or less on the same day, the Pats also picked up veteran RB Fred Taylor and TE Chris Baker. Taylor will likely provide the same boost and toughness that Corey Dillon did during those last glory years. And Baker will add depth and blocking the a TE corps that was a disappointment last season. So, on offense the Pats look in pretty good shape. Maybe they need a #3 WR now that Gaffney is heading to Denver, but thats about it.
