The Sanchez/Stafford contracts were results of a flawed system related to the draft. Both of those contracts suck. But those are apples (unproven rookies) and Cassel is an orange (successful in the NFL for one season). Cassel - may be worth the contract, but he could also be a huge product of surrounding talent. I'll stop there because I've thrown stones at glass houses like that and been burned - and the Jets just paid out significant money to reel in Scott and Leonhard, who could both just as easily be the same type of product.
Mitchell was shaky to me when he played for Orlando and Miami. Detroit and Minnesota were the two front runners for him prior to the 1994 season and at the time I thought the team that didn't get him would be the winner. Rob Johnson similarly did not impress me. Matt Cassel impressed me. I understand the talent around him in 2008 and it took me a while to come around, but by December I thought he was looking good. I can certainly be proven wrong, but I think the Chiefs did good to get him.
I think the deal with Cassell and Vrabel for a 2nd was Belichik and Kraft's way of saying thanks to Pioli for not bailing on them for a multi-million dollar deal elsewhere earlier. Also for not going to the Jets. Based on the history of the two franchises I thought it was likely Pioli would wind up running the show for the Jets at some point.
After 21 starts a 12 & 9 Record in those starts Chad signed for 64.2 million with the Jets. The guy came in cold went 10 & 5 in his starts and in the month of December he had 8TD's and 1 INT with a QB rating over 100. He's 27 in the absolute prime for an NFL QB for the next 5 years. The Chiefs went out and got him to lead their team. Good move.
I don't think he is worth it as a player... but all in all he's a good guy so I'm happy for him. Time will tell... PS Funny how he's making more money than Brady
That does not seem to make sense, however, Brady is only 28th on SI's Top 50 Highest Earning American Athletes. Brady said on 60 Minutes that he leaves extra money on the table, in order to get other good players on the team, and therefore, more wins. He also said that he will never be able to spend all of the money he makes anyway, so why does he need more? Must be music to Kraft's ears. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/specials/fortunate50/2009/index.3.html
Agreed! Teams pay rookies tens of millions who could be busts each and every year. At least Cassel has played a snap in the NFL.
One could say the same thing about Mark Sanchez. I do not particularly subscribe to the system theory. Either a guy is a good quarterback or he is not a good quarterback. EDIT: I do believe that there are systems on the amateur level that allow QBs to look really good. See the Houston Cougars system in the late 80s/early 90s and the current Texas Tech Red Raiders system. But again, I'm not a big subscriber to the system theory on the NFL level. Of course, Sanchez came from the best "system" in college football. That whole USC program is a system.
I 2nd that. Granted the guy had a solid O-line in front of him & excellent WRs in Randy Moss + Wes Welker ------ but the QB still needs to make the throw - the system isnt tossing the ball. And the whole bit about not starting at USC is BS too ---- Tom Brady didnt light it up when he was at Michigan, he struggled to start himself.
While at Michigan, Brady started two seasons, won a Big 10 title, won 2 bowl games (Citrus and Orange) and threw for 369 and 4 TD's in a great OT win over 'Bama in the Orange Bowl. That's a pretty good college career by anyone's standards. Cassel was a benchwarmer his entire USC career. No comparisons between the two while in college.
Tom Brady started his Senior year competing with Scott Driesbach and Jason Kapsner after sitting behind Brian Griese a proven NFL scrub. Cassel sat behind two Heisman trophy winners Carson Palmer and Leinart. Cassel has proven he has a big time arm, great size and strength and mobility. He also got better the more time he was behind center and had a great December run under NFL playoff pressure. Obviously they liked what they saw of him in mini camp and believe in him. It's also clear that one of KC main division rivals would gladly give up huge franchise QB money for him if they didn't tie him up.
I completely disagree. Brady started 2 seasons at Michigan like I said. It doesn't matter who his competition was. It only matters who started and played the games. And then you say he sat behind a proven NFL scrub in Griese? Well using your same logic, Leinart is a scrub in the pros so what's your point? That Cassel sat behind a future pro scrub in Leinart while at USC? I guess that makes Cassel even worse than Brady sitting behind that other pro scrub in Griese. If Brady sat behind a future pro scrub, then Cassel sat behind the ultimate pro scrub who had 10 times more the acclaim coming out of college than Griese did. Your argument is completely flawed. Cassel did nothing in college. Brady accomplished a lot more. That's all that matters. Now onto the pros, we'll just have to wait and see. Yet all signs point to him being a major FLOP.
I never thought Leinart was a great NFL prospect but he is sitting on the bench behind a QB that is going into the HOF. He also was a great not a good College QB. Cassell was one of the top rated QB's coming out of high school. He sat behind one of the best pro prospect QB's in years in Palmer and sat behind Leinart who won the Heisman. He came off the bench cold last year and played extremely well and in fact was great down the stretch once he had command of the O. He got better with almost every game and was clearly one of the top QB in the league in the month of December. There is nothing that points to him being a major flop. He was a great High School athlete one of the top 100 QB prospects in the nation. He was the back up QB and played TE on a national championship team. He was a relief pitcher for USC's baseball team. Everything points to a great athlete with size and a very good arm and excellent intelligence. He is more proven right now than Sanchez. He is more proven right now than Chad was when we signed him prior to the begining of the 04 season.
Don't take everything so literally. As I said ---- Tom Brady didnt exactly LIGHT IT UP AT MICHIGAN. Its been very well documented that he was not always "penciled in" as the starter.
Brady got the chance to play at Michigan, and did all of the things said earlier. Cassel never started, but he was only drafted one round later. If Cassel goes to another school and starts, he's a top 5 pick when he gets drafted. How highly a guy is thought of by NFL scouts coming out of college is more relevant to a guy's percieved value than a list of his accomplishments anyways. The fact that Cassel got drafted without starting a game speaks volumes.
