Probably not. But with some recently surfaced trade rumors, we sure can speculate.
But this one goes beyond just our boy Matt Cassel. This story involves another signal caller -- Jay Cutler. Franchise quarterback. Pro-bowler. Bona fide drama queen.
Apparently, the Denver Broncos spent Friday night/Saturday morning trying to maneuver a three way trade involving the Patriots and the Buccaneers. This trade would have sent Cutler to Tampa Bay, Cassel to Denver, and a pick as high as the (Bucs') 12th round overall AND the Broncos' pick to the Patriots
Now, it doesn't exactly require a genius to see the McDaniels connection in all of this, and Jay Cutler is probably not a genius. But now he feels betrayed, wants to be traded, and sees his relationship with McDaniels as irreparable. It's a little melodramatic, but let's face it, who wouldn't want the same thing in his situation? You've played hard each season since starting to develop into one of the better quarterbacks in the league, you're team captain, you made the Pro Bowl, and this newbie coach wants to trade you for his pet project from New England?
Of course, the title story of this post starts at the obvious thing: Cassel went to Pioli, not McDaniels, despite an arguably superior deal. Of course, given the Patriots' history of developing players, it doesn't really seem to matter whether they're first rounders or sixth rounders. Factor in fiscal concerns -- there's a disproportionate amount of money shelled out to first round picks who don't happen to be Peyton Manning, and the Pats have a big free agency year coming up. But if you're McDaniels, you have to be a little irritated at the fact that Coach decided to take a worse deal with Scott Pioli rather than give you an opportunity to work with someone you're familiar with. Not to mention as a periphary fact, you just damaged relations with your star quarterback.
I don't see any rivalry getting to the point of Bill/Mangina, simply by the virtue of being in a different division, but if the Broncos become successful enough under McDaniels to be playoff contenders year after year, you would definitely have a cute little subplot for sports pundits to blow out of proportions.
P.S.
Oh hey guys, long time no see!
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3 comments:
Yo whats up Ranald-
First off- way to set the record for labels (10!).
I don't think the Pats refused a better offer just because they have some kind of loyalty to Pioli (because he left us). I don't think Denver even would have done that trade. Giving up a pick and a proven QB for a less proven QB? I guess I can see them swapping QBs because McDaniels can just chugging along with Cassel as his QB, and not have to deal with his QB learning a new system. But Cutler and a high draft pick??? Seems like a little much.
I don't see there being any kind of Belichick-McDaniels rivalry.
I was pretty surprised Jay Cutler was brought up in trade talks at all, to be honest. Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal, and Jabar Gaffney might make a pretty mean passing attack. If Dawkins plays up to his contract, he could help motivate that lackluster defense too.
You may be right about the rivalry, but I seriously wouldn't disregard the Pioli factor in a trade like this.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3946294&sportCat=nfl
That link is to a Gene Wojciechowski article about Jay Cutler just being a baby. He wasn't even traded so he should suck it up-- it kind of refutes somethings I said, but he makes some good points. Primarily, what has Jay Cutler won that makes him so untradeable? Nothing.
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