Patriots Considering Vinny Testaverde?

This article is mostly about how New England Patriots backup quarterback Matt Cassell and his old college teammate, Carson Palmer, talk every week about opposing defenses. It's a nice story about how their friendship is on hold this week as their teams prepare to play each other.

But the fascinating news is at the bottom, where the Boston Globe informs us that the Patriots worked out Vinny Testaverde, the 42-year-old quarterback who has been around so long that he won the Heisman Trophy when Cassell was 4 years old. Testaverde is older than some of the other quarterbacks who have been rumored to be coming back this season, Rich Gannon and Jeff George, but if he does come back he'll still be a few years shy of the oldest player in the league.

So could Testaverde still contribute to an NFL team? Bill Parcells once said Testaverde will have a strong enough arm to play in the NFL until the day he dies. And longtime NFL quarterback and commentator Boomer Esiason speculated on Sporting News radio that New England might want a trusty veteran like Testaverde on the team as sort of a wise counsel to Tom Brady, who has been upset by the team's loss of his favorite receiver, Deion Branch. If Testaverde will play for the league minimum and will serve as sort of an extra coach to both Brady and Cassell, why not give it a shot?