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It Sounds Like Matt Cassel, Tom Brady Could Share Patriots' QB Duties in 2009

Posted Jan 06, 2009 3:05PM By Ryan Wilson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Patriots, AFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Injuries

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Last week Gretz pointed out that the Patriots could very well put the franchise tag on Matt Cassel. Obviously, this move has everything to do with Tom Brady, who suffered a season-ending knee injury roughly 10 minutes into Week 1.

If tagged, it means that Cassel's in line for more than $14 million to either reassume his role on the bench, remain the team's starter, or some combination of the two. In December, NBCSports.com's Tom Curran wrote that, according to a source, Brady's rehab was behind schedule, he might need another surgery, and if it came to that, it could cost him his 2009 season.

A day later, SI.com's Peter King, via his source, refuted Curran's account, but admitted that "Now I was also told that they wouldn't be surprised -- these people close to Tom Brady -- that the Patriots might be placing a story ... that could end up getting them more ... more value for Matt Cassel in the offseason when he becomes a free agent."

And then there's this update, from this morning's Dan Patrick Show:
Curran says Tom Brady's knee is still screwed up, so the Patriots will franchise-tag Matt Cassel. Curran even says Cassel will play next year, because he doesn't expect Brady to be ready by Week 1.
Pancake Blocks' Gregg Rosenthal adds that "Curran doesn't believe that the Patriots will really be able to wait to see how Brady's recovery is going. He thinks Cassel will play next year, and that 'most likely' Brady will start the year on the PUP list. Wow. We have a looong way to go with this story, but there appears to be a better chance of a Brady/Cassel combo for '09 than imagined."

And it'll only tie up some $29 million in salary-cap space to keep them both on the roster. Actually, I think franchising Cassel is the right move. It's a huge up-front cost, but it's only for one year; and if Brady's healthy, well, just consider it the price of fielding a Super Bowl-caliber team.

I'm still not convinced Cassel is anything more than an above-average backup; I mean, there's no reason for the Vikings, Lions, Jets or whomever to throw a lot of dough his way (or worse, give the Patriots a handful of first-day picks for him) under the assumption that he'll magically shore up the position.

Still, there's also no denying that he outperformed everybody's expectations this season. And if Brady's not ready for the start of '09, Cassel is a very capable alternative. Basically, he's like the Cardinals' Matt Leinart -- the guy he sat behind at USC -- but good.

Tags: Matt+Cassel, Matt+Leinart, MattCassel, MattLeinart, Tom+Brady, TomBrady

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