NFL 2009

[Maxx]

Really depends on how much he's willing to get paid. If he wants an absurd amount, that severely limits his opportunities. If he's willing to play for a contender for cheap, he could end up anywhere. I could see the Pats, the Panthers, the Cowboys, the Broncos or even the Ravens taking a chance on him. If he can stay healthy he'd definately be an asset to a good DE rotation.

[livid]

I could see him landing at one of the many teams switching to a 3-4 just to have an experienced 3-4 OLB but he may be too old to be effective.

[gunnar hendershow]

Really depends on how much he's willing to get paid. If he wants an absurd amount, that severely limits his opportunities. If he's willing to play for a contender for cheap, he could end up anywhere. I could see the Pats, the Panthers, the Cowboys, the Broncos or even the Ravens taking a chance on him. If he can stay healthy he'd definately be an asset to a good DE rotation.

The moment I saw he was released I was thinking it'd be nice if the Ravens signed him if he could come on the cheap with loads of incentives. We could really use another DE in all actuality.

[Maxx]

I feel the same way about the Cowboys signing him, especially since we just lost Canty to the Giants.

[I Love Pokemon]

I'd like to see him end up a Viking, it's not happening it won't but it'd be nice to see him give Brian Robison(who can become a pretty good DE IMO) some tips, and to line him up alongside Allen would be awesome.

But he'll probably end up a Raven or a Cowboy, maybe a Patriot if they can't land Julius Peppers.

[Your Mom]

Astounding allegations: Bill Belichick did something friendly

By MJD

Of course, this "something friendly" would also be unethical and possibly a gross violation of NFL rules, but that's not the astounding part.

What's astounding is the notion that Bill Belichick would do anything out of friendship, or really, out of any motivation other than winning. I've always seen him as the type of guy who would insist on being the banker in Monopoly, so he could steal fake money.

The action in question is the Patriots' trading of Matt Cassel to the Kansas City Chiefs for a second-round draft pick. Why is this the source of controversy? Because everyone assumed the Patriots could get a lot more for Cassel than a lonely second-rounder, and because the guy Belichick did trade Cassel to is Scott Pioli, his old pal who helped assemble the Patriots championship teams.

The thinking is that Belichick traded Cassel to the Chiefs at a discount as a favor to his old pal Pioli. At least three people have outright accused Belichick of it, or at least hinted at it: Jay Mariotti compares the trade to Spygate and thinks Roger Goodell needs to take action, Albert Breer talks about the head-scratching going on around the league, and Tim Graham calls the trade "inexplicable."

Graham also reports, via Chris Mortensen, that the Patriots could have gotten a first-round pick, the 12th overall, for Cassel in a three-way trade that would've also involved Jay Cutler, but we'll get to that a bit later. In the meantime, here's a nutshell version of the two different ways of seeing the Cassel-to-KC deal.

1) The "This was an honest trade" side. Bill Belichick would never do anything to hurt his own cause, Cassel still had a lot to prove as a quarterback and the Patriots desperately didn't want to be on the hook to Cassel for $14 million this season, especially if they believe Tom Brady will be healthy.

2) The "Oh, this trade is stinky" side. There's Belichick's reputation as a man who, shall we say, is willing to bend the occasional rule, The Belichick/Pioli relationship, the reports that the Bucs were willing to go as high as a first-and-a-third rounder and not only did Kansas City get Cassel cheap, but the Patriots threw in Mike Vrabel as well.

The stumbling block for me is trying to believe that Bill Belichick did something for the good of some other football team. He's going to give some other team a discount, because he wants to do someone a favor? I just don't see it.

This is Bill Belichick we're talking about here. He'd cheat in a game of Connect Four against a poor orphan child. He didn't become the coach he is by doing people "favors."

Why is it against the rules to accept less for a trade? I don't see how it's anyones business but the teams trading

[I Love Pokemon]

Astounding allegations: Bill Belichick did something friendly

By MJD

Of course, this "something friendly" would also be unethical and possibly a gross violation of NFL rules, but that's not the astounding part.

What's astounding is the notion that Bill Belichick would do anything out of friendship, or really, out of any motivation other than winning. I've always seen him as the type of guy who would insist on being the banker in Monopoly, so he could steal fake money.

The action in question is the Patriots' trading of Matt Cassel to the Kansas City Chiefs for a second-round draft pick. Why is this the source of controversy? Because everyone assumed the Patriots could get a lot more for Cassel than a lonely second-rounder, and because the guy Belichick did trade Cassel to is Scott Pioli, his old pal who helped assemble the Patriots championship teams.

The thinking is that Belichick traded Cassel to the Chiefs at a discount as a favor to his old pal Pioli. At least three people have outright accused Belichick of it, or at least hinted at it: Jay Mariotti compares the trade to Spygate and thinks Roger Goodell needs to take action, Albert Breer talks about the head-scratching going on around the league, and Tim Graham calls the trade "inexplicable."

Graham also reports, via Chris Mortensen, that the Patriots could have gotten a first-round pick, the 12th overall, for Cassel in a three-way trade that would've also involved Jay Cutler, but we'll get to that a bit later. In the meantime, here's a nutshell version of the two different ways of seeing the Cassel-to-KC deal.

1) The "This was an honest trade" side. Bill Belichick would never do anything to hurt his own cause, Cassel still had a lot to prove as a quarterback and the Patriots desperately didn't want to be on the hook to Cassel for $14 million this season, especially if they believe Tom Brady will be healthy.

2) The "Oh, this trade is stinky" side. There's Belichick's reputation as a man who, shall we say, is willing to bend the occasional rule, The Belichick/Pioli relationship, the reports that the Bucs were willing to go as high as a first-and-a-third rounder and not only did Kansas City get Cassel cheap, but the Patriots threw in Mike Vrabel as well.

The stumbling block for me is trying to believe that Bill Belichick did something for the good of some other football team. He's going to give some other team a discount, because he wants to do someone a favor? I just don't see it.

This is Bill Belichick we're talking about here. He'd cheat in a game of Connect Four against a poor orphan child. He didn't become the coach he is by doing people "favors."

Why is it against the rules to accept less for a trade? I don't see how it's anyones business but the teams trading

i agree. if a team wants less for a trade it shouldn't matter. People make a big deal about everything these days.

[Maxx]

Well its not really anyone's business, its just sort of not fair to the teams that offered better. The Lions were offering the pick the 33rd overall pick for just Cassel and the Broncos or Bucs may have given up their first rounder for him. But because of the previous relationship, Belichick sends him to KC for a lesser pick. Nothing illegal about it, and its not nearly as bad as the Raiders shipping Moss to the Pats for less than the Packers were offering, but its just something that is bound to irk other teams as their better offers are turned down in the face of a lesser one due to a previous relationship between the trading partners.

[Toe]

Teams turn down better offers when the trade could strengthen a division rival or something. If this deal was thought up before Pioli left the Patriots organization though, that would probably be tampering or something.

[I Love Pokemon]

Well its not really anyone's business, its just sort of not fair to the teams that offered better. The Lions were offering the pick the 33rd overall pick for just Cassel and the Broncos or Bucs may have given up their first rounder for him. But because of the previous relationship, Belichick sends him to KC for a lesser pick. Nothing illegal about it, and its not nearly as bad as the Raiders shipping Moss to the Pats for less than the Packers were offering, but its just something that is bound to irk other teams as their better offers are turned down in the face of a lesser one due to a previous relationship between the trading partners.

i see what your saying. I just think everyone blows things out of porportion. It's like when a player gives a team a "hometown" discount and signs for less then what another team was offering.

[livid]

Well its not really anyone's business, its just sort of not fair to the teams that offered better. The Lions were offering the pick the 33rd overall pick for just Cassel and the Broncos or Bucs may have given up their first rounder for him. But because of the previous relationship, Belichick sends him to KC for a lesser pick. Nothing illegal about it, and its not nearly as bad as the Raiders shipping Moss to the Pats for less than the Packers were offering, but its just something that is bound to irk other teams as their better offers are turned down in the face of a lesser one due to a previous relationship between the trading partners.

Actually, the Packers wouldn't pony up the 4th round pick to get him.

[Maxx]

I had heard they were offering Aaron Rodgers or a 3rd rounder, thats why I mentioned it.

And no Pokemon, its not like a player signing a home town discount, as that is the player giving the team a discount. This is one team giving another a discount, to a team in their conference no less, and it may have been discussed before Pioli even left the Pats, in which case yes, the other teams in the league might have something to complain about. Its still weird to see a team turn down better offers to send a guy out of their conference, thats what all the fuss is about.

[livid]

Yeah the Packers GM didn't think that a 4th round pick was worth it. But that may have been more to do with the fact that I think he wanted Favre out sooner rather than later and Favre was the one that wanted Moss there.

[JStarr]

If I was Pioli, I'd have been trying to negotiate that one down to a 3rd. A QB who had 5 great games and the rest, was just there, who's getting paid 12M or something on the strength of that, and an aging LB who's more famous for being a goal-line TE in three Super Bowls? For the second pick in the second round, where you can get first-round talent at discount prices? The Chiefs need to hope Cassel can stay on his roll, of this deal's gonna look pretty dumb.

The whole point of a coach or GM building a "family tree" of former assistants/co-workers around the league is knowing that you have people who can and will do business with you, understand you, and in some cases, maybe even like you. That deal never gets done if Pioli wasn't a former Patriot employee, sure, but it's not nearly as sinister as some would like to make it sound. I'm usually one of the first to suspect Belichick of chicanery, but this one's legit to me.

Like Maxx said, this deal's hella more legit than getting a Hall of Fame receiver for a fourth-round pick.

Primarily, if this was anyone other than Belichick, we wouldn't be hearing so much outcry over it.

[gunnar hendershow]

I don't see any problem with the Cassel trade. Things like this happen in the NBA all the time, teams trade a guy with a huge salary to a team that doesn't seem a threat all the time and get nothing in return except salary cap space. It happens in the NFL, and it's the Patriots, and some people seem to be really upset.

The deal doesn't happen if Pioli isn't in KC, but he is and it happened. It's completely fair, now New England has a 2nd round pick and millions of extra cap space. Kansas City has an unproven QB for maybe only a year.

[BuddyAwesome]

Sorry if it's been discussed earlier but I'm not about to read through 17 pages... Anyhow, I'm a big 49ers fan and have been forever so personally I REEEEEALLY hope they get Kurt Warner!

The 49ers really just need a good QB, and Warner can definitely bring a lot to the table for them.

[Maxx]

For how long though? Warner has maybe 2 or 3 good years left in him. In that amount of time, the 49ers won't be anywhere close to being a Super Bowl contender, they'll barely be a playoff contender. Sure he's an upgrade over their current QBs, but he has no long term value, which is exactly what the 49ers need to be looking for.

[Vendetta]

Coast guard has called of the search for Cooper and Smith.

[I Love Pokemon]

For how long though? Warner has maybe 2 or 3 good years left in him. In that amount of time, the 49ers won't be anywhere close to being a Super Bowl contender, they'll barely be a playoff contender. Sure he's an upgrade over their current QBs, but he has no long term value, which is exactly what the 49ers need to be looking for.

They could become one, hell Arizona became one. The teams are not that far apart, they could with some work and coaching sneak in the playoff and upset some teams it's happened, before.

I'm not saying it would happen, just that it could.

[Maxx]

Arizona had two of the best WRs in the leauge and got hot in the playoffs. San Fransisco has nothing besides Frank Gore offensively. I really don't think a Warner/Issac Bruce reunion will be enough to power them through the playoffs. It'd be a stupid signing that won't help them in the long run at all.