QB Debate

The Brady/Cassel QB debate will go on forever, especially if Cassel continues to mature in his position with Kansas City. The Pats were stuck when they franchised Cassell for a 2009 salary of 14.5 M. There was no way the Pats could keep him and Brady as they would count almost 29.5m against the cap.

They could have let Cassell go to free agency and received a compensatory third round draft pick . No team was about to sign Cassel to the 14.5m price tag and surrender two first round draft picks to the Pats as compensation for signing a franchised tagged player.

According to some pundits and talk radio crowd, the team may have overplayed their hand in estimating Cassel's trade value. They ended up getting KC's 2nd round pick which will be number 34 overall. Some feel the Pats went overboard when they threw in Mike Vrabel.

It's interesting that the Chiefs were the major player now that they are under the direction of new GM Scot Pioli. Some subscribe to the conspiracy theory between Belichick and Pioli.

My feeling is that Belichick felt secure with Tom Brady's health and they needed to free up some cap room. Of course, Cassel is several years younger than Brady and certainly moves around better in the pocket and in the open field.

Only time will tell if Brady returns to his former greatness. Many feel that Cassel was made better by the offense he worked worked with. Perhaps that was the case.

Who know? Some day the Pats will be without Tom Brady. Will Kevin O'Connell be a viable backup or do they need to bring in a veteran backup. Journeyman Patrick Ramsey recently visited the team.

As Coach Belichick has often said: "Nobody plays forever in this league ."