“Missing The Bus On Your First Day Of School”
June 22nd, 2009
Remember when the Bucs were rumored to be trading for Matt Cassel? Tom Curran of NBCSports.com does.
Curran has a list of the best and worst decisions made by NFL teams in the offseason. The Bucs made the list, but not in a good way.
Seems Curran can’t believe the Bucs and the Broncos couldn’t pull the trigger to acquire former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel (both teams were rumored to be in the mix to land him).
It was like missing the bus on your first day of school. Both the Broncos and Buccaneers blew their chances at getting the best available quarterback by sleeping at the switch on Matt Cassel.
Once the Patriots franchised Cassel in mid-February, any team was free to make inquiries and lay groundwork. But with new coach/GM combos in both Denver and Tampa, it didn’t get done. And then when word came down the Chiefs were in the process of securing Cassel, the Bucs and Broncos sprung into action with too-little/too-late offers.
Not to rehash the old hash, but the Bucs trying to get Cassel reminded Joe of former St. Louis Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty who, at the 11th hour, always made a play for a big-name free agent. Then Jocketty would lowball if not insult the free agent when, in fact, Jocketty had no intention of signing said free agent.
Later, as a public relations stunt, Jocketty would hold a news conference, shrug his shoulders, and in as many words say, “Hey, we tried,” and then whine about the high cost of playing the free agent market.
The Bucs trying to get Cassel was little more than a public relations stunt.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
Question to Joe:
Would you
A. Rather the Bucs traded for Cassell and given up our #1 pick in that deal
OR
B. Happy with using the #1 pick on B.I.W. Josh Freeman?
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Mr. Lucky:
A., but it wouldn’t have taken a first round pick. Bill Belicheat didn’t want a first round pick (because they cost so much against the cap).
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:45 am
I believe everything happens for a reason…and we have Josh Freeman. I’d take him over Cassel and in time, you’ll see why.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:50 pm
All I remember of Cassell was his play against the Bucs last PS…….
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
What does any of this have to do with Cassel? I thought the Bucs were only trading for him in a Cutler manaja twa. So, shouldn’t this be more about Cutler and Daniels’ man crush on Matt. Belicheat should have been more patient because he would have got Alex Smith for free, with the pick, and maybe another player or two. The trade to Kansas City was foolish, suspect, and not in the best interest of the Patriots. It smelled like more rotten fish from the Fisherman’s Wharf in Baston Harbor. Oh BTW, the Red Sox suck too.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Sorry, but I would have taken Ray Maualuga before Freeman. That would have been a pick that Bates could build a defense around.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Wow. Just wow. No offense Joe but the line between what you know and what you think isn’t getting a lot of respect here.
Now I don’t mind if you have some inside source that’s clued you into a lack of genuine interest in Cassel that resulted in a half-hearted effort to land him. Heck, I don’t even mind if you quoted a source who HAD a source.
But the best you did was parrot Curran’s completely unsubstantiated claim that the Bucs were “asleep at the switch” and didn’t bother to take any action until the 11th hour.
Again is there some source to back that up? Are you at all willing to give equal time to the the ideas that Pioli and Belichick were practically conjoined twins for six years? That wouldn’t give you a leg up in any dealings let alone knowing if/when Cassel was even available?
If were even POSSIBLE to outmaneuver Pioli’s very personal relationship with the the Pats organisation where do you see figures or offers or a timeline established for what the Bucs offered and when?
So everyone who loses a competition was ‘asleep at the switch’? Boy those undefeated Patriots who went 18-0 and racked up all those gaudy numbers but lost the Superbowl in the final seconds sure were a bunch of bums. Totally asleep at the switch!
My point here is that unless you know have some actual sources or information you just neglected to cite I’d love to know how you can actually judge the effort put into the competition based solely on the end result.
And I’m sorry, but Belichick didn’t *WANT* a 1st rounder for Cassel because of the CAP IMPLICATIONS? Because NE has always had such a hard time stockpiling 1st rounders and parlaying them into more draftpicks and arguably thereby into Lombardi Trophies.
This doesn’t even pass the laugh test, but worst it flies in the face of most reports that indicate that Pioli got a discount on a “NFL Team Starter Kit” pretty much as a going away gift for a job well done. At least there are “unnamed sources” backing that line up in the various columns that decided to print the theory. Lame, but at least an attempt.
Don’t get me wrong man, we lost out on a guy who showed a lot of potential (course so did Matt Shaub and that’s working out great for Houston right now).
The problem is that you can’t back up your claim that the Bucs never really tried or that the asking price would have been the same for any team that was interested.
C’mon, seriously.