KC masterpiece?
I imagine your initial reaction when you heard about the Matt Cassel deal Saturday was similar to mine:
The 34th pick? Really? That’s it? And they get Mike Vrabel too?
Then you promptly drop-kicked whatever inanimate object (or house pet) that happened to be nearby. Wide right, Fluffy.
Okay, so maybe I’m flying solo on that last part. But it did fall somewhere between frustrating and surprising to learn that the Patriots would give up Cassel, who earned a career’s worth of admiration after he rescued the 2008 season when few believed he could, and Vrabel, a bright, versatile, and talented defender who in many ways embodied the Patriots’ defense during their glorious three-championship run, for nothing more than a solitary pick. And not even one in the first round.
We had sentimental attachment to these players — sentimental attachment that was usually rewarded by excellent performance — and it’s hard to not wonder why they didn’t bring more in return.
I was really hoping for a mid first-round pick (at least) for Cassel, who I believe will be a very good quarterback even without Randy Moss and Wes Welker in his huddle. Why the Lions didn’t offer their second first-rounder for him is . . . well, it’s why they’re the Lions.
And while Vrabel has clearly lost a step or three — he recovered just 2 1/2 sacks after Week 1 last season — he was a great player here, one who is universally popular among Patriots fans, and it’s always sad to see another link to that first Super Bowl victory depart. (Tom Brady, Richard Seymour, Matt Light, Kevin Faulk, Larry Izzo, and Tedy Bruschi are the six remaining, and that number might be three come September.)
But with a few days of consideration — not to mention being talked off the ledge by more reasoned observers such as Mike Reiss — it’s apparent that this move was made for a couple of rather logical reasons:
1) It clears a significant amount of cap space, allowing the Patriots to re-sign their own players (James Sanders, hopefully Vince Wilfork), while also having room to pursue other free agents who appeal to them (for the record, I love the Fred Taylor signing). And should the departure of Cassel and Vrabel somehow lead to the acquisition of Julius Peppers, good luck finding someone to complain then.
2) They were beginning to wonder if the market for Cassel was going to develop, and took what they considered a reasonably appealing offer — perhaps their only reasonably appealing offer, at least until Denver’s apparent fourth-quarter involvement — when it presented itself.
In a weird sort of way, because the national reaction about the trade has been predictably screechy — the same nitwits who have been calling Belichick bloodless and impersonal all these years are now essentially claiming he delivered Cassel and Vrabel to Scott Pioli as a parting gift simply because they can’t quite solve Belichick’s motivation — I feel better about how it all has played out.
Look at it his way. Virtually every major decision Belichick has made that has brought with it a certain level of confusion or controversy — letting Adam Vinatieri walk and drafting Stephen Gostkowski, signing supposed malcontents Randy Moss and Corey Dillon, choosing Tom Brady over QB-as-long-as-I-wanna-be Drew Bledsoe, trading Bledsoe to Buffalo, cutting Clubhouse Lawyer Milloy — has worked out in the Patriots’ favor.
Belichick went against the conventional wisdom again. This usually bodes well for the Patriots, even if we don’t always recognize how or why it will at the time.
Can’t wait to see how they use that 34th overall pick, though. No pressure, kid.
* * *
As for today’s Completely Random Football Card:
Man, I hate winter. And yes, that’s J.T.’s dad.
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