Chief of the Cassel

The New England Patriots traded QB Matt Cassel Saturday afternoon, to the Kansas City Chiefs. This move comes 24 hours after the Patriots traded veteran LB Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs as well, in a move that is now being confirmed as a package deal. But what makes this more interesting is the man on the KC side of the table, is none other than former Patriots GM Scott Pioli. Pioli spent nine seasons as the architect of the New England dynasty before leavin in January to assume the healm in Kansas City. I am sure it won't be long before Jets fans will be talking about collusion and the two teams being in cahoots, but that is not the case. This trade was born more out of necessity than anything else for both sides.

It is going to be easy to look at this deal and say the Patriots gave up too much, only to get the 34th pick in the draft, which is the recently confirmed compensation for both Cassel and Vrabel. But this sets the Patriots up as the early winner in this chess match. The Patriots have been notorious for making the right moves at the right time, and are at the head of the class in terms of making decisions based on the needs of the business and not from a weak standpoint of sentimentality. Trading Mike Vrabel may have been an add in to the Cassel deal, but keep in mind Vrabel is on the downside of his career and was going to be a free agent next season making sense for the Pats to get some value for Vrabel now. So taking a look at the business side of this deal, it is easy to see where the Patriots line of sight was.

New England had Cassel on the books for over $14m for the 2009 season, making more than Tom Brady (whose health plays a large part in this move), hurting their cap number for this season. Mike Vrabel was set to make in the vicinity of $2m for the 2009 season. You take those two salaries off the books, it frees up $16m and gives the team more room under the cap. The Patriots are not know for giving their players overly lavish contracts. Plus the Patriots have had good second round success in recent drafts, and more than likely where they are trying to clear money off of the books wouldn't want to tie themselves to a big rookie contract. The Patriots have proven again, they want the right people for the team and they look for players who will fit into the New England Patriots system not players who have inflated stats and inflated egos. Humble pie.

Does this mean the Pats are going on a spending spree this off season? I would be surprised. I think you are going to see the Pats try and tie up some of their younger players and some of their free agents such as Vince Wilfork. In recent years the Pats have been sucessful in coming to terms with their free agents a year before they are eligible to hit free agency, and I look for this year to be much of the same with the guys who fit in the Patriots plans.

Vrable leaves and obvious gap in the line backing core, the once strength of the Pats D has been an area of concern over the past few seasons as these guys(Bruschi, Colvin, Seau, et al) get older and more injury prone. I look for Jerrod Mayo to continue to develop into one of the leagues best up and coming LB in his sophomore season, but there needs to be more depth. The Pats have some younger guys in terms of Pierre Woods and Shawn Krable who showed some promise in the pre season of 2008, before suffering a season ending leg injury. Another notable in this linebacker core is the return of Tully Banta-Cain who played the last two seasons with the San Fransico 49ers. But is that going to be enough? Probably not, and that is lucky for the Pats who seem to have a master plan in place, and it could be to trade some of their second round picks, where they now have 3, and there will be some quality linebackers who have 3-4 experience in the second round. Of course don't rule out the Pats making a play at a veteran linebacker free agent like...um...Ray Lewis.

The silver lining in this situation all but confirms Tom Terrific will be back in 2009, and I am predicting here and now the Patriots will be your Super Bowl Champions next season, as Brady will be back with a vengeance!