What’s Next for the Patriots
February 28, 2009 by SOS
In a very surprising move yesterday that Patriots agreed to trade Mike Vrabel to the Kansas City Chiefs for an undisclosed draft pick, or at least we think. This move hasn’t been officially announced so there could be more in the works. Would the Chiefs be interested in Matt Cassell as well? Do the Patriots have a Vrabel replacement in waiting (other than Shawn Crable who didn’t play a down last year). Are the Patriots going after Julius Peppers, who would fill the void left by Vrabel and move to OLB from the DE position he played in Carolina. Could the Pats simply be getting rid of a player that they think has his best days behind him and opening up some cap room to keep Matt Cassell? The Vrabel move saves the Pats more than $3million on this year’s cap.
What is Mike Vrabel’s worth as far as a draft pick goes? He is a soon to be 34 year OLB with a lot of mileage on his legs, coming off a season with only 4 sacks. If the Pats only get a pick I am thinking that it would be a 3rd or 4th round selection. Not sure if that Pats value that more than someone who fits well into their scheme and in the locker room.
I think that this is a great move for the Chiefs who get a veteran who comes from a winning franchise and helps the worst pass rush in the history of the NFL (only 10 sacks last year). Scott Pioli is already making a big impact bringing in “his” guys. Replacing Sperm Edwards with Todd Haley, pulling a Gordon Ramsay and telling Brian Waters to basically “piss off” and now trading for Vrabel. I am assuming that he has a lot more work to do in figuring out whether to trade or keep Tony G and Larry Johnson.
The Patriots also announced the signings of “Fragile” Freddy Taylor and TE Chris Baker the Touchdown Maker, who has been on everyone’s fantasy team during a bye-week at some point in the last three years. Can Fred Taylor be the 2009 version of Corey Dillon, in one word “no”. The Pats will most likely use the committee approach to keep Freddy T, Sammy Morris and Maroney all healthy. The Baker move is interesting because the Pats now have 36 TE’s on the roster and none of them are better than average.
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