Once he signed the tender, he cannot negotiate with another team. It's all in the Pats court now. They can negotiate with any team they want. Cassel only gets into it when it reaches the stage of negotiating a long term contract with the team the pats have worked out a deal with.
If Cassel cannot come to an agreement, then the pats have to go back to the drawing board.
IMO, Cassel will be traded before the draft, barring complications to Bradys knee. Even then, I expect the Pats would go to Guttierez or O'Connell rather than keeping Cassel at that price.
Ok maybe I am am miss understanding something here and you can educate me. It is my understanding that there is two types of franchise tags, exclusive and non-exclusive. The patriots opted to go with the nonexclusive route, which entitles Cassel to talk to other teams. If he signs an offer sheet the Patriots have the two options. Eithier they can match the tendered offer or they can let him gobut the other team has to give up two first round picks to them. This is my understanding of how it works.
To me the implication is this:
1. They expect a team to offer Cassel an offer that is more attractive then the garunteed 14.6 million, plus willing to give up thier next two first rounders for him.
2. They tendered him because they are willing to tie up the money in him for one more year because they are not fully confident they will have a starter level QB this up coming season without him. (AKA Brady's recoveryis uncertain)
3. They feel Cassel can adequatedly replace Brady and be sucessfull and can get value out of trading him now. As absurd as that saounds. If Brady can pass a teamphysical I would think a team could alot of value for a first ballot HOF QB while he stillhas 4-5 yrs left of top play in him. This could go a long way in suring up other areas of team needs. Think Back to the 49's and how much value they could of gotten for Montanna if they traded him a few years earlier then they did and went with young.
Personally I think we are looking at history repeating its self. I think Cassel is the real deal. I think the Scott Mitchell comparison is totally bogus. Matt Cassel is not Scott mitchell. I really hope the Pats stick it out with Brady and succumb to the fans because I think trading brady is the best move they can do. Correct me if I am wrong too but as I understand it Brady is only commanding a salary of somewhere in the nieghborhood between 6-8 million. Point being that leaves lots of room for a trarding negotations. cassel will insist on being paid. Brady is already rich from endorsements this is Matts big chance to make the big bucks and is going to be ridgid in negotiations.
Yeah Matt can be tempted by signing bonuses that that come out larger then the 15 million in totality along with him being a garunteed starter. I can see that tempting him to sign on elsewhere. The big question has to be if is Brady is going to be ready this season, is he going to be ready to play a full season, is Matt as a commodity going to be a cooled off prospect in 2010, when he will he renter free agency. these few things keep me from saying flat out I believe one thing or another for certain. There is too many behind the scenes stuff being kept close to the cuff to say for certain what everyones intentions are.
I just think that just because Cassel is franchised does not mean they are doing it because they think another team will be willing to garuntee him 15 million plus and give the Patriots draft picks. I think that is the most unlikely of plausable scenerios that are taking place.
You being a Patriots fan and following it much closer then myself, I would be very intrested in hearing your opinion on how you think they are trying to play this out. The one things that hits me in the face against my ownopinion is that if they were planning on keeping him and trading Brady they should of made him an offer to extend his contract before post season instead of going the fronchise tag route.
