A lot of things happening today, on this first day of free agency.

So far:

Haynesworth signed with the Redskins.

DeAngelo Hall signed wtih the Redskins.

Kellen Winslow traded to Tampa Bay.

Fred Taylor signed with New England.

Also I'm hearing the Matt Cassel trade is very close to happening.

yay, gus frerotte is gone!

Its just a rumor but I'm reading about a 3 way deal with New England, Kansas City and Carolina where in which Kansas City would get Cassel, New England would get Julius Peppers, and Carolina would get Kansas City's #3 pick in the draft.

I doubt it will happen but I'd love it.

One thing that has happened already is Mike Vrabel has been traded to KC today for an undisclosed draft pick. I don't think they'd let go of Vrabel unless they had plans for another lb to come in.

Cassel + Vrabel to the Chiefs for their 2nd round pick, #34 overall.

As a Patriots fan I'm definitely feeling a bit robbed. On the bright side, they do now have another 18 million in free cap space which will be put to very good use. An early 2nd round pick in this draft is not too bad because this is a very deep draft...but I can't help but feel they should have gotten a first for him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3942161

Brian Dawkins to the Broncos.

Guess Pioli must have had some kind of inside dirt on Belicheck. I can't believe the Partiots couldn't get better value for Cassell than a rubbishy 2nd round pick.

NE didn't want to pay the money a first rounder would command....that's how they are...

Its that type of penny pinching attitude that meant the Patriots didn't make the play-offs last season.

lol

If you're serious then you're retarded.

Ok not retarded, but there is a thing called a "salary cap" in the NFL. Some people...like those in an organization that has won the Superbowl 3 times this decade, feel that there is more value in a high 2nd round pick because they get a good quality player without using up a large chunk of the salary cap. They can then use that extra salary cap room to go out and sign other quality players....that's how they are. It's not like they're trying to spend as little as possible. Every NFL teams basically spends the same amount.

Cassell's 1 yr, 14 mill contract helped move things along.

In other news, Josh McDaniels is a ****ing moron. He tried to get Cassel......and failed. In the process, he has completely alienated his franchise QB (Cutler who is BETTER than Cassel). Nice start ****head.

I'm certainly not retarded just still a bit gutted that the Patriots didn't make the playoffs. Your post does make sense, I suppose I'm just from a country were the top sport teams don't worry about a salary cap and just spend as much as they want and to hell with the consequences.

you'd like baseball.

..and the Green Bay Packers did absolutely nothing to fix that terrible defense.. Sigh.





Good work out of the Chiefs and Pioli, though I don't think Cassel is all that exciting. New England..eh..



LOL.

The report is that the Patriots were offered the #12 pick in the draft (Broncos 1st) for Cassel. Instead, they traded him AND Vrabel for the 34th. Two possibilities. One, Belichek colluded with Pioli and made him a sweet deal (and rewarded Cassel by sending him to Pioli). Not out of the question.

Or, the Pats are hurting with the cap and 1) wanted a team to take Vrabel's contract off their hands as a condition of getting Cassel---plus 2) they did not want to have to pay 1st round money to two guys.

I think either explanation could be right. I would be mad if my team left 22 spots in the draft on the table. Pats did pretty damn good with the 10th pick last year getting Mayo. Plus, they could have used the pick as trade bait for a team that wanted Mark Sanchez (who should go in the 10-20 range).

Maybe Kraft is hurting for cash....

Please TJ Whosyourdaddy to Minnesota one time?

It's extremely foolish to think the BB would do this to help an old friend out... if that's really what some of you think then you have no clue as to how the Patriots run their organization. The Bucs and Broncos showed up too late to the party, the paperwork was already in when they decided to make a move for Cassel. I guess the Pats could have backed out of the deal with the Chiefs since nothing was signed, but not with Pioli there. The Broncos and Bucs are the real idiots in all of this, why wait so long to try and make a trade? It's not like they didn't know Cassel was available. The Bucs had been having discussions with the Pats about Cassel but I guess weren't all that interested, but then they show up with a 1st and 3rd round offer when it's too late?!?!?

The Patriots had to trade Cassel right away if they wanted to be players early on in the FA period. Now they have around 19 million in cap space they can use to resign players like Wilfork, Mankins, Sanders... Not to mention they have 4 day 1 picks to mess around with!

Then how do you explain them taking Seymour and Mayo really early in the draft? They aren't afraid to pick a player early on if they think he will be a difference maker.

They had NOT signed the papers yet. It is confirmed that they got the Broncos offer in plenty of time. If you DONT back out of a tentative deal for another deal that gains you a 22 spot jump in the draft, then you helped an old friend out. (you said it yourself: "not with pioli there"----translation: if it was not pioli, Belicheck would have backed out and taken the better deal.)

thanks for making my point.

Up until Friday not one team had made a serious offer for Cassel, at least not one that was better then the 34th pick. In order to be a player in FA early on AND re sign key players he decided he needed to take the best offer he could get right away, so he called K.C. and asked for the 34th pick. They agreed to a deal, got the paperwork done, Vrabel go his physical done... then the Broncos and Bucs came in and threw out some ideas of a 3 way trade. You seem to think there was a solid deal on the table for all three teams... there wasn't! Say the Patriots decided to try and work out a deal with the Broncos on a 3 team trade but couldn't get it done. Now the Chiefs are pissed and take back their offer because BB went back on his word. So the Patriots are left with about 2 million in cap space and two QB's making 14 million this season.

Maybe BB could have waited and got a better deal, but considering the circumstances he did the right thing. I'm glad he stayed true to his word and went through with the trade, there was no need to ruin a 20 year relationship with one of his best friends over this. I guess BB is not as heartless as everyone thinks...

Just curious as to what you would have done if you were the Patriots considering everything we know now?

They had those picks at that time and needed to...from what I read, KC wanted to give their 1st rounder, but NE wanted the 2nd....maybe as you said, they don't think there is a difference maker there at pick 3 and that would be a LOT of guaranteed money to an unproven player. Maybe they really like a guy who will be there at the start of the 2nd round and they get to pay less money for them.

You are a NE fan, you know what I meant by saying "that's how they are." They are a team that gets good players that people don't know about as really good, and don't have to spend as much on them in the process. If the player is getting older and is going to sign a huge deal, they let them go to another team that wants to overpay.

BB called the Chiefs and made the offer of Cassel and Vrabel for #34. I'm sure they talked about it before Friday, but he's the one that initiated the trade.

It just doesn't make any sense that KC would offer the #3 pick and the Patriots would reject that... I don't know where you're reading that, not saying that you're lying... I have no life so I spend a lot of time reading anything I can Pats related and I never heard that.

What I did read this morning is the Lions offered the #33 pick for Cassel straight up and they turned it down because Lions didn't want to take Vrabel. Vrabel was due a roster bonus on March 1st so I'm sure the Pats wanted to get rid of him before they had to pay it or have to cut one of the greatest Patriots of all time. Plus Cassel did a lot for the Pats this season, why reward him by sending him to the Lions!?

Once upon a time, not so long ago and not too far away, a young wanderer and sorcerer's apprentice from the East, Pioli, made his way West to find his fortune.

At the confluence of the mighty rivers Kansas and Missouri, athwart that gateway to burnt-end sandwiches and the rolling yellow plains, Pioli did plant the flag of his ambitions.

"Here shall I build my castle," he said. And he wished hard to the heavens that his dreams might come true.

Upon hearing this, the distant spirit of the ancient wizard Belichick appeared to him from the clouds. "I have just the Cassel you need," said the sorcerer. "Hit me back when you get this."

And they did conference several days and nights in utmost secret upon the matter until agreement was reached.

To outward appearance, it was a deal too good to be true. As such, the younger magician was sore perturbed.

"But what of Goodell," said Pioli, "and his legion of cranky scribes and inky underlings? What of the Electronic Opiners and the Talking Haircuts? To hear these inquisitive henchmen tell it, they are the Guardians of the Game. Will we not rouse their suspicions of Old-Boyism and insider back-scratchery?"

"They are as trolls and garden gnomes to me, and too busy hoeing their own row. With my winning ways I have bewitched them all into indifference," said the hooded magus Belichick. "An .824 record in the playoffs these past nine seasons shuts a lot of mouths and eyes and ears. And also, we'll announce on a Saturday, when everyone's at the mall and no one's online."

"However can I repay you?" asked the grateful apprentice.

"Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me," whispered the aging necromancer, disappearing in a puff of sulfured smoke.

So Pioli and the People of the Plains rejoiced at their new fortune and their gilded future, and downloaded photos of the Brady/Bundchen wedding in great numbers to augur what might lie ahead for them all.

But in the midnight hours of his soul, Pioli sometimes grew restless, tossing and turning with worry at the devilish bargain he had made. Had the Hooded One gotten the better of him?

And in those dark, not-so-happily-ever-after moments, the Great Howling Husky of the Old Skool, Calhoun, ran hunched and rabid through the moonlit forests to comfort him by roaring, "Not a dime back! Not a dime back!"




















link

"apparently Bill Belichick became a non-competitive idiot overnight"

signed with Seattle, and considering how much for, kinda happy he didn't come to Minnesota.

I think the bottom line for the Pats is twofold.

1) Belichek did not get full value for Cassel and Vrabel. That is clear. No one is perfect. He could have had more if he waited it seems. For whatever reason (and there are lots of possibilities), he was cool with just a high 2nd rounder.

2) It does not matter. Vrabel is aging and Cassel is redundant and overpaid at 14 mill. Who knows how he will be without Moss and Welker and Co. They dont lose much with the trade. The Patriots were 11-5 last year and, yet, they once again have 4 picks in the top 60 of the draft. Its incredible. You can plug so many holes with that. 2nd rounders are usually great players. With their draft track record, you can count on them turning that haul into at least 3 starters. So not getting full value in this trade is not a big deal.

Oddly enough i did get into baseball during the whole McGwire, Sosa home run chase in the late 90's.

Back to NFL. I really don't think Bill B would get into anything remotely dodgy with Pioli after the whole spygate affair. I think the NFL would come down on him like a ton of bricks if it turned out he undervalued 2 players just to help our a friend at another team. As for the draft I have no idea who the Pats are going to pick, I haven't followed College Football for years. Although I hear that Ryan Leaf is a great (sic) prospect.

It probably doesn't mean anything but there's a poll up on Patriots.com asking if the Patriots should sign T.O.

Can you imagine an offense with Randy Moss, T.O. and Welker at receiver, Lawrence Maroney and Fred Taylor at RB, and Tom Brady quarterbacking them all?

The Patriots could cut their punter.

LOL. It's a good things Patriots fans dont run the team. T.O. could never coexist with Moss and Welker eating up so many balls. Did none of you see what he did in Dallas? Signing TO is guaranteeing your punter more work....not to mention making Tom Brady's life 3 times harder.

Bill would never do this in a billion years though so the Pats are safe.

Yeah and Randy Moss will be a disaster in New England. Corey Dillion...there's another cancer that will destroy the team from within.

If there's any team...any coach...any organization that can put him in his place it's New England. BB will have him on the first bus out of town at the first sign of any retarded drama. I'm not saying its going to happen though. I would have never dared to speak about the possibility out loud if the poll hadn't been put up on the official Patriots website.

However, I will agree that the majority of the fans are wrong. In the poll 58% are saying they don't want TO.

I had Moss as a great move. (I had him in my FCP fantasy league that year.....welker too.....and almost won the league just with those two guys.) People who did not like that move dont understand Moss. He will only play hard for a winning team. He never bitches about touches. If there is any team that would NEVER touch TO it is the Pats.

58% of Pats fans are being wise. Moss and Dillon were not team killers. TO is a team killer and a QB killer. Tony Romo will have a big year. No more worrying about forcing 10 balls a game to TO.

I may be mad but I think TO would be a GREAT signing for the Patriots. I wouldn't have said so a few years ago but watching how Randy Moss has been trasnformed into the model team player the last few years make me think the Patriots could make TO a team player. There would have to be strict conditions though. No complaining when he doesn't get the ball 20 times a game and no crying in press conferences when Tom Brady gets ripped by the media.

They are not the same, I promise you. Moss is a sometimes malcontent who stops giving effort if the team is constantly losing.....never a problem with New England these days.

Moss never publicly berated his QB (TO has done so at EVERY stop in his NFL career). You just cant bash your QB in the press. And TO has played with some really good QBs too......not the dregs of the NFL. Moss never complains about touches.....TO always does. If TO was not happy with Jason Witten taking his targets, how is he going to be happy with Moss AND Welker taking his targets?

It's a terrible, terrible idea and completely unnecessary. The Patriots went 16-0/18-1 with the team they have now (minus Vrabel sure but plus Jerod Mayo). why **** with that? The Patriots can completely retool their secondary AND add depth to their O-Line and front seven with the 4 top 64 picks they have in the draft. They dont need TO they already pass the ball with ease.

Fred Taylor was a good signing.

TO is visiting Buffalo today.

Edit: he signed with them

Patriots sign Shawn Springs. Nice...because he owns TO like no other CB.

bitches be crazy!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AsB4...p&type=lgns

Yes! The Patriots signed Leigh Bodden. This makes me so happy. Signing Bodden and Springs is a very nice upgrade in the secondary for New England. Springs, Bodden, Hobbs, Wilhite, and Wheately is a pretty good group of corners, and they've turned a weakness into a strength.

Now they need a decent OLB and we're set on D.

The Patriots just signed Joey Galloway. He's been around for a while but he's still very dangerous when healthy.

Wow, this team is stacked...and they still have a ton of day 1 draft picks.

Donte Stallworth killed a man today....

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3980182

That's pretty sad.

I've seen people jumping all over him already on football boards, but until there's proof that he was doing anything wrong I'll refrain from judging him in any ill manor regarding this. This is something that could happen to anybody. Its just very unfortunate. I feel bad for the victim but I also feel bad for Donte. It must be a horrible feeling.

If it's determined that he was drunk or on anything else then it's a different story.

Good thing I got that Cutler jersey for Christmas

Ugh he is being such a whiny little bitch. I forsee Jeff Garcia finding a roster spot here in CowTown.

Looks like he is being charged,

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-s...o&type=lgns

Miami police have indicated that Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth is expected to be charged as a result of the driving accident that killed a pedestrian early Saturday morning, two sources with knowledge of the

investigation said. Pending the outcome of the investigation, which includes results of a blood test for drugs or alcohol, the sources said driving under the influence, vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving were among the

possible charges. “The police seem pretty confident that they’re going to charge him,” a source with the NFL said. “ … Even if he [is] clean, I think the police feel he’s going to be charged with something, regardless.”

A detective source was also told that the police anticipated charging Stallworth, who was reportedly cooperative with police and distraught over Reyes’ death.

“I think it looks like to the police that Stallworth wasn’t being careful, at the very least,” the second source said.

That last sentence doesn't bode well for Dante.

please. this guy made the pro bowl last year. and they had the 2nd ranked offense in the NFL. so what do they do? they fire the o-coordinator (a close confidant of Cutler) and then try to trade for Cassel a guy who had ONE GOOD YEAR THROWING TO RANDY MOSS AND WES WELKER. McDaniels is an idiot....you dont piss off your 25 year old pro-bowl QB.

Sure, Cutler is a stubborn ass. But this is the pros.....the players have some power. People ragging on Cutler for his 17-20 record are dumb, too. Manning was 3-13 his first year. It worked out. Anyone with eyes can tell Cutler has a long, great career ahead of him. Broncos never should have fired Shanahan.....now it is all falling apart.

The dolphins should offer Chad Henne and a 2nd for Cutler. Cant hurt.

I would like to see Detroit get Cutler. It's been talked about for weeks and after todays report it's been pretty much all they have been talking about. Sadly all the Lions have is picks and if they can figure out what Denver wants maybe they can work out a 3 team trade. I would rather see the Lions give up the 1st pick if for Cutler if they plan to take Stafford. Save money as you will have to pay Stafford an kings ransom and you have a proven QB.

I would rather have Cutler then Stafford and his massive contract. If Detroit can convince the Broncos to do that, that would be a huge coup. No one really wants top 5 picks anymore though because of the cost. And stafford is NOT a cant miss prospect.

Cutler to the Jets is also a possibility.


This is also a possibility again...

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8...mp;confirm=true

If the Patriots get him I'll try my best to not sound like an arrogant douche as the Patriots dominate the league again. lol

There's a local sports talk guy here in KC that has an interesting view on the Cutler thing. He seems to think that the Bill Parcells tree of coaches (McDaniels, Belicheck, Haley, Sparano) like to make a statement to the team by having a "run-in" with a current player of the team they are taking over.

I don't remember if Belicheck did anything like that when he took over the Pats, but Sparano-Jason Taylor, McDaniels-Cutler, and Haley-Brian Waters (big story here locally, not sure if it got national run or not) are the examples. His theory is that it is like a prison yard mentality...you know, fight the biggest dude on the yard the first day so no one will mess with you after that-type of thing.

What do you think, and can anyone remember other instances like this?

Drew Bledsoe

I dunno if this Cutler thing is the same though, as it seems pretty stupid. Quarterbacks like him aren't easy to come by.

I knew you would know. Also, I am pretty sure Parcells did something similar with a player in Dallas when he took over but I can't think of who it was.

drew bledsoe was just an injury casualty. he and belicheck were fine til Bledsoe got injured and everyone found out how good Brady was.

lawyer milloy was closer to this kind of situation.