2009 Patriots Off-Season Thread

[mtbykr]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/02/23/cassels-franchise-contract-submitted-to-nfl/

 

 

Let there be no more questions, doubts or speculation. It’s official.

 

The one-year, $14.6 million contract franchise tender that Patriots QB Matt Cassel recently signed was turned into the NFL today. Now that Cassel has signed, the speculation about whether he will be traded can begin.

 

The feeling around the combine is that it won’t be easy, but for the right price, New England would be willing to deal.

[mtbykr]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/02/27/patriots-reach-agreement-with-ex-jet-baker/

 

One of football’s top rivalries got a little spicier Friday when New England reached agreement with former New York Jets tight end Chris Baker.

 

Earlier this month, the Jets released Baker rather than pay him the $9 million option bonus payment that was due to him in early March. At the time, the 29-year-old Baker said he was open to re-signing with the Jets and would like to return. But when New England called, and Baker heard the Patriots’ offer, he liked that idea better.

 

New England believes it is getting a player who had a career-high 41 catches in 2007, more than the player who caught only 21 passes for 194 yards and no touchdowns last season, when Baker lost some of his playing time to rookie first-round pick Dustin Keller.

 

Now, another player in a long line of them — Curtis Martin, Ty Law, Vinny Testaverde to name a few — has changed teams in this heated rivalry. Baker is going to be a Patriot.

 

And as one Jets fan just texted me when he heard the news, “Whenever Pats pick up a former Jet, I get a pit in my stomach.”

[mtbykr]

This is a good signing....joins Morris, Maroney, and Faulk.

 

 

http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/02/27/taylor-to-sign-with-new-england/

 

 

Fred Taylor’s run into the sunset took him straight to New England.

 

After visiting Buffalo and New England this week, Taylor decided to sign with the Patriots.

 

The agreement has been reached, Taylor is headed back to New England. After playing his first 11 NFL seasons with Jacksonville, he now is expected to finish his career as a Patriot.

[mtbykr]

TB finally got hitched.

[mtbykr]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/02/27/chiefs-patriots-nearing-trade-for-vrabel/

 

Didn't see this one coming....wonder if it's part of a bigger deal

 

 

New England’s Pro Bowl linebacker Mike Vrabel is in Kansas City undergoing a physical so that he can then be traded to the Chiefs. General Manager Scott Pioli is reaching out to bring in a player familiar with his system, and New England is a willing trade partner.

[mtbykr]

I think this was unexpected.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2009/02/lonie_paxton_to.html

 

 

Long snapper Lonie Paxton has agreed to terms with the Denver Broncos, according to a league source.

 

More on this move to come.

[TheKilo]

Fred Taylor is an awesome signing.

[mtbykr]

Fred Taylor is an awesome signing.

 

Completely agree. Especially considering the fragile nature of Maroney. With Maroney, Morris, Faulk, and Taylor....the backfield is very strong.

[mtbykr]

I've got a funny feeling that the Vrabel trade might be a precursor to Cassel. I wonder if Vrabel was part of a bigger deal involving Cassel. I guess we will find out.

[mtbykr]

I thought he would end up back with the pats.

 

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2009/02/gaffney_joins_b.html

 

Receiver Jabar Gaffney has agreed to terms with the Broncos today.

 

The agreement was first reported by NFL Network's Adam Schefter and has been confirmed by the Boston Globe.

 

Gaffney joins long snapper Lonie Paxton as the second Patriot to join the Broncos on the first day of free agency.

 

First-year Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels, the former Patriots offensive coordinator, knows what he's getting in Gaffney, who served as the team's No. 3 receiver in 2008.

 

Gaffney's pact is reportedly for four years, $10 million, with $3 million guaranteed.

[mtbykr]

Bruschi responds to losing Vrabel:

 

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/index.php/2009/02/28/bruschi-reacts-to-vrabel-trade/

 

Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi responded via email last night to the trade of fellow linebacker Mike Vrabel, one of his closest friends on the team, and someone he shared three Super Bowl championships.

 

Here's what he wrote: "We've lost perhaps our best all around football player. Defense, offense, special teams, Vrabes did it all. His intelligence and on field adjustments can not be replaced. This team has just changed immensely. "

[TheKilo]

lol Bruschi

[See Red]

I mentioned it in the other thread... but Cassell's been traded to the Chiefs according to Schefter. It's on NFL.com

[mtbykr]

Posted this in the NFL Offseason thread as well

 

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2009/02/cassel_trade_co.html

 

 

The Boston Globe has confirmed that the Patriots have a trade in place with the Kansas City Chiefs for quarterback Matt Cassel.

 

At this time, the compensation is not known.

 

The official paperwork has been filed with the NFL.

 

Cassel, who turns 27 in May, will be reunited with former Patriots Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Pioli, the Chiefs' first-year general manager.

 

Cassel was one of the NFL's surprise stories in 2008. Despite having not started a regular-season game since high school, he stepped in for the injured Tom Brady in the Patriots' season opener against the Chiefs, and ultimately led the team to an 11-5 season.

 

Cassel completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 3,693 yards, with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

 

Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel is part of the trade agreement with Cassel.

 

 

 

For the record, i would have preferred Cassel go to the NFC, oh well

[Dojji]

Yahoo reporting: #34 pick in the draft for both Vrabel and Cassel. That's just short of a #1 pick -- not a bad return considering Matt is basically a one-year wonder.

 

Cassel traded to Chiefs

[schillingouttheks]

Yahoo reporting: #34 pick in the draft for both Vrabel and Cassel. That's just short of a #1 pick -- not a bad return considering Matt is basically a one-year wonder.

 

Cassel traded to Chiefs

 

I wouldn't have guessed that you thought he was a one-year wonder.

[WhiskeyBreath]

I hope Cassel does well in KC.

[riverside sluggers]

Yahoo reporting: #34 pick in the draft for both Vrabel and Cassel. That's just short of a #1 pick -- not a bad return considering Matt is basically a one-year wonder.

 

Cassel traded to Chiefs

 

Pioli got the best of his old team. Just 1 draft pick the Pats got in return for both? The defense is already suspect entering this coming season, Bill has a lot of work to do. There will be a time where the line "In Belichick we trust" goes dry

 

I agree with SOTK. Once Cassel is gone, youre tune about him has changed

[See Red]

I get the feeling it was sarcasm. If not, it's as big of a 180 as we've seen on these boards, but then again, what reason does he have to slurp Matt Cassel if he's not a Patriot?

[mtbykr]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2009/03/james_sanders_a.html

 

 

Nice to see Sanders back in the fold!

 

 

The Patriots have agreed to terms with safety James Sanders on a three-year contract.

 

Sanders, 25, turned down more money elsewhere to return to the Patriots.

 

Sanders' agent, Steve Feldman, confirmed the agreement.

 

"It gives him a chance to grow and become a playmaker," Feldman said. "He stays in the same system with a championship team. They know him. He knows them. It was the right fit."

 

Sanders, who enters his fifth NFL season, started all 14 games in which he played last year. He was credited by Patriots coaches with 66 tackles, sixth best on the team, and added one interception.

 

In the past, Sanders has been credited by Patriots coaches with aiding the overall communication of the secondary, as his knowledge of the overall defense is considered valuable.

 

He is a projected starter at safety for 2009 alongside Brandon Meriweather.

[mtbykr]

I posted this in the NFL Off-season thread as well:

 

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/01/did-bucs-offer-come-too-late/

 

 

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen has reported, with excellent elaboration via ESPN.com’s Tim Graham, that the Buccaneers offered a first-round and a third-round pick for quarterback Matt Cassel as part of the menage-a-trade that would have sent quarterback Matt Cassel to the Broncos and quarterback Jay Cutler to Tampa.

 

So why did the Pats pass?

 

A reader has shared with us this nugget from Michael Felger of WEEI. Put simply, the Bucs arrived at the party too late (and possibly with a cinnamon bobka).

 

If that’s the case, then it all makes sense.

 

But Mort says (via Graham) that the Broncos were willing to give up their own first-round pick — No. 12 overall in the draft — for Cassel. Under those circumstances, why didn’t Belichick bite?

 

We agree with Mortensen’s suggestion that Belichick would be less willing to help a former assistant coach than to help the front-office guy who helped set the table for those three Super Bowl victories in four year.

 

Mort also suggests that the Pats leaked word of the Broncos’ effort to trade Cutler to the Boston Globe as a way to mess with the Broncos.

 

Um, wow.

 

We only wish that the Broncos and Pats played each other twice per year. As a consolation, the Broncos and Chiefs still do.

 

UPDATE: Tom Curran also reports that the Bucs and Broncos showed up after Pats coach Bill Belichick had decided to pull the trigger on the trade with the Chiefs. Credit Chiefs G.M. Scott Pioli for: (1) knowing that the Patriots were ready to do something right away with Cassel; and (2) getting a number and placing his order while the other teams were still loitering in the lobby of Schnitzer’s.

[TheKilo]

Pioli got the best of his old team. Just 1 draft pick the Pats got in return for both? The defense is already suspect entering this coming season, Bill has a lot of work to do. There will be a time where the line "In Belichick we trust" goes dry

 

I agree with SOTK. Once Cassel is gone, youre tune about him has changed

 

The 34th is more than fair value for Cassel and Vrabel. To think you could have gotten more is ludicrous.

[See Red]

The 34th is more than fair value for Cassel and Vrabel. To think you could have gotten more is ludicrous.

 

Ya know, I think it's fair value, but I think they could've gotten a fourth round pick or so extra out of it. Hell, McDaniels would've been stupid enough to give up the #12 pick if need be.

[mtbykr]

http://blogs.nbcsports.com/home/archives/2009/03/on-cassel-pats-werent-waiting.html

 

 

 

A few excerpts:

 

In February 2002, Steve Belichick stood in the lobby of a New Orleans hotel and said of his son, "Bill is one of the most decisive people you could meet. When he makes his mind up on something, it is done. And he's not looking back and wondering if it was the right thing to do."

 

This helps explain why, just a dozen hours into the 2009 free agent period, a deal for Matt Cassel was already going down. Every team in the league knew Cassel, franchised but expendable because of Tom Brady, was there to be had.

 

One team - the Kansas City Chiefs - made a play. And when no other team took a number and got in line behind the Chiefs, New England took their order. No waiting around. No hand-wringing and flipping a ball off the war room wall trying to decide what to do. Be decisive.

 

 

The offers went like this according to Adam Schefter of NFL.com. The Lions (or Bucs) would trade for Cassel. They would then ship Cassel to Denver in exchange for Cutler. In Denver, Cassel would be reunited with his offensive coordinator from New England, Josh McDaniel. And the Lions (or Bucs) would have a Pro Bowl quarterback. And the Patriots would have, the scuttlebutt goes, better than the 34th pick.

 

This explains why, just as the Cassel to KC story was breaking, Schefter was reporting a third team was trying to enter the mix. The third team didn't decide to get its posterior in gear until they heard what the deal to the Chiefs was all about.

 

By that point, the deal with the Chiefs was practically done. And while Belichick COULD have told Chiefs GM Scott Pioli the deal was off because something better might be coming along, he wasn't going to do that. Not to a close friend, probably not to anybody.

 

There. Was. No. Market. For. Cassel. Other. Than. KC. The fact Tampa and Detroit were shuffling him through speaks volumes. They're not sold on him. So the Pats went for the sure thing instead or trying to shoot the moon. And the only sure thing was the second rounder from KC.

[BSN07]

The 34th is more than fair value for Cassel and Vrabel. To think you could have gotten more is ludicrous.

 

TB offered a 1st and 3rd, but they where too late to the dance. From what I have read if BB hadn't pulled the trigger so fast on the deal with KC, Cassel would be in TB.

 

Most FO people are saying from what I read that Cassel could/should have gotten what Schaub brought back, or what SD recieved in compensation for the Eli, Phillip swap a few years back.

[TheKilo]

So what you're saying is Belichick is a moron for trading Cassel to the Chiefs when there were clearly better offers out there.

[BSN07]

No, I'm saying he acted prematurely in hindsight. From what I read it seems TB just missed out. And from what I can gather, there should have been no rush to trade Cassel, so by trading him this early he missed out on what appears to be a better offer.

[Dojji]

I wouldn't have guessed that you thought he was a one-year wonder.

 

I don't. But it's reasonable for an NFL GM to think so. Including our own, apparently.

 

Besides, a high 2nd isn't that far from what most of us thought he'd get. I wanted a bit more, but I'm always on the optimistic side when it comes to a player on a NEw England team. Or didn't you realize that by now?

[Dojji]

No' date=' I'm saying he acted prematurely in hindsight. From what I read it seems TB just missed out. And from what I can gather, there should have been no rush to trade Cassel, so by trading him this early he missed out on what appears to be a better offer.[/quote']

 

Snooze you lose. TB was idiots for not moving right in with a deal if they wanted him that badly. A blind monkey knows that Pioli and BB are going to immediately start talking Cassel and Pioli is going to make what he thinks is a fair-to-generous offer at the first opportunity. If you want to up the ante you need to do it IMMEDIATELY, not host a blue-ribbon panel meeting to explore apointing a committee to assign a team of bureaucrats to investigate the possibility of proposing a deal to your own GM to pass forward.

[BSN07]

TB dropped the ball. That is there problem. I like what the Pats will be looking like on draft day. Most picks in the 1st 2 days(4 total I believe). I wouldn't be surprised to see some other moves before and on draft day.