It's a deal that's got everything - history, emotion, high finance, backroom dealing, and the certainty of infinite speculation and second-guessing.
The trade is a clear sign that the Patriots believe Tom Brady will be his old self at the start of the 2009 season. This is good news. We have lived in an information vacuum concerning all things Brady since the cover boy QB went down with a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of the first game of the 2008 campaign (against the Chiefs, oddly enough). There were multiple reports of post-surgery infection and slow recovery, and neither Brady nor the Patriots offered much in the way of clarification.
Trading Cassel puts it to rest. The Patriots and Brady obviously think he can pick up where he left off when he was the league's Most Valuable Player, throwing 50 touchdown passes, in 2007. Belichick simply would not trade Cassel if he had any doubts about Brady's readiness for September.
So we still don't know for sure if Tom is married, but we finally can believe he's going to be OK to play. His was not a career-ending injury and he'll be back on the field for the season opener.
The not-so-good news is that it looks from a distance as if the Patriots got shortchanged in this exchange. Salary cap experts and draftniks will explain that the Patriots could not afford to commit a quarter of their payroll (Cassel and Brady add up to $29.2 million) to two players, and one position, on a 53-man roster.
The market for Cassel was limited because not many teams could afford him. A second-round pick from Kansas City is more like a late first-round pick because the lowly Chiefs draft at the top of the deck. You can get a quality player at No. 34. Vrabel was past his prime, going into the last year of his contract.
Intellectually and strategically, the deal makes sense, especially if the Patriots come away with another player like linebacker Jerod Mayo in the draft. They can get younger and they have new money to spend.
But emotionally, it's asking Foxborough fans to swallow a gummy hairball. Cassel and Vrabel for a second-rounder? Might Chiefs fans someday think of this as their version of Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek for Heathcliff Slocumb?
