Seriously this time, are we Pinheads?

Pinheads or Patriots?

(Originally posted March 10, 2009)

Bill Belichick is the sort of head coach that is so smart, he has you scratching your head all the time, but you’re smiling with the end result. There are times when Patriots fans have wondered if he's making a bad decision. When he committed to Tom Brady in the Super Bowl over a fully recovered Drew Bledsoe, some questioned. When the likes of Lawyer Milloy and Ty Law were allowed to leave because of salary issues, most doubted. The fact that Matt Cassel was even still on the roster after this last preseason was too much for some. But our head-scratching is always put to rest.

Then came the trade of the 34th overall pick in the 2009 draft for Cassel and Mike Vrabel. That’s quite the going-away present for Scott Pioli. Normally, I would trust the Belichick way, knowing we somehow got the better end of the deal, but that new Chiefs GM knows what he’s doing too. A lot of nasty rumors are out there about Belichick keeping promises to Pioli, but let’s get over playground politics and talk some actual football, people.

There are obvious downsides to this deal. The hottest free agent this year went for essentially half of a second round draft choice. We lost a strong leader on our defense, a direct blow to an oft-injured linebacking corps. Perhaps the biggest blow came when reports leaked that we could have had the Bronco’s first round pick, so long as Tampa Bay traded them for Jay Cutler. That’s obviously pretty conditional on the Bucs, but even if something wasn’t worked out, the Patriots could have milked the situation just a little more to see if they could get that first rounder.

What could have been going through Bill’s mind? Football talks a lot about that “clock inside your head” that counts down for a quarterback. That was what was going on for the Patriots brass, only this clock was about the salary cap. As of the day before free agency started, the Patriots had the second least amount of cap room to work with, just $3.2 million. It was estimated that New England would need about $10 million to sign their free agents and Draft picks, and we had some serious holes to fill. Here’s some of the notable contracts that ran up: FB Heath Evans, WR Jabar Gaffney, S Rodney Harrison, LB Junior Seau, P Chris Hanson, RB LaMont Jordan.

When you talk about aspects of the Patriots dynasty that have resulted in success, what comes to mind first? Tom Brady? Bill Belichick? Perhaps defense? The most overlooked aspect, but one of the most valuable parts, is how we manage Robert Kraft’s checkbook year-to-year, and part of that has to do with foresight. Want to know who the free agents will be in 2010? Mike Vrabel, Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour, Kevin Faulk, Logan Mankins, Stephen Gostkowski and Tedy Bruschi. Wilfork is going to take precedence over the rest, and will come with a big price tag. Seymour, Mankins and Gostkowski are serious keepers, and also hold a high price tag. But next year, would we have gone to the same lengths to keep Vrabel, Bruschi and Faulk as the rest of them? No. Pinning a “C” a player’s uniform doesn’t always mean they’re worth the big bucks…sorry ‘Tek.

With his clock ticking, Belichick knew he needed cap room fast to make room for guys like RB Fred Taylor, WR Greg Lewis, CB Shawn Springs. In case you hadn’t notice, we needed a good running back, a solid third wideout, and THANK YOU LORD WE ACTUALLY WENT AFTER A CORNBERBACK. Not to mention re-signing safety James Sanders and punter Chris Hanson. All of which are official, just a week into free agency, unlike the snails-pace of last year. If we let Cassel sit too long, Pioli could have ended up playing hardball and claim he’d wait until the draft for a franchise quarterback. And Tampa could have chickened out on the deal, leaving us stuck for too long with a toxic asset.

Does this help me sleep at night? No. Not at all. I haven’t slept in days. I toss and turn each night, with nightmares, hearing over and over, “And with the 13^th pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots pick…Cap’N Crunch, University of Iowa.” Or some other terrible out of shape cartoon character. Maybe I have issues. Either way, It still infuriates me, because this is typical boring Belichick. He’s all brains and no fun. First round picks are fun.

I will console you with one rationale, though. Keep in mind that we would have been trading within the AFC. Which team would you rather share a conference with; a Cassel-led Kansas City Chiefs, or a Cassel-led/McDaniels-coached Denver Broncos?

If the Broncos were able to end our playoff run with Jake “The Snake” Plummer, I’d rather we would stick Matt on a team whose best player is their Tight End. Because believe me, that’s never a good sign.