New England Patriots Should Consider the Unthinkable: Trade Tom Brady

About a year ago, I had a unique view on what the New England Patriots should do about their quarterback situation. Just for review, Tom Brady had missed all but one quarter of the 2008 season. Matt Cassel stepped in and had a very solid year for them.

I felt that the best thing the Patriots could do is keep Cassel and trade Brady. I want to make one thing clear right now. This is not a shot at Brady. I think he is the best quarterback in the league and nobody named Manning could hold his jock strap. I named my second son Brady.

At the same time, football is a team game and I saw what happened this year coming from a mile away.

The Patriots have a pattern. They have a guy and then let him leave and get the contract elsewhere. Then they replace him with a younger guy. A perfect example would be replacing Ty Law with Asante Samuel.

Based on that, keeping Brady and trading Cassel was very unpatriotic. To me, it made more sense to make Cassel the starter and trade Brady. The reason is quite simple.

The defense featured guys like Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, and Mike Vrabel. Those guys were staples in the defense for years.

However, they were getting old and a couple would retire in the offseason. Not to mention, Asante Samuel was already gone through free agency to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Therefore, it was no surprise to me that the defense took a big step back this year. The reality is that other than Jerrod Mayo, there are some holes on that defense. That is where trading Tom Brady could have helped and where it comes into play now.

Looking at the offense, when you have Randy Moss on one side and Wes Welker on the other, Joey Harrington could quarterback the team. Sure there are a couple of holes in the line that need to be fixed.

However, when you have guys like Kevin Faulk, Lawrence Maroney, and Benjamin Watson complimenting Moss and Welker, it is not hard to be the quarterback of this team.

Based on that, trading Tom Brady shouldn't be all that unthinkable. Imagine what the Patriots could get for Brady within minutes of putting him on the trading block. I think a team would give up a lot to get Brady.

Now the problem is that this year, the Patriots would have to acquire another quarterback in the trade. They wouldn't have had to had they done it last year.

However, there is one scenario I can see that the Patriots could make out like bandits on.

That is trading Brady to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have a few things that could interest the Patriots. They have 11 draft picks. We all know that Belichick knows how to use draft picks.

They also have a couple of players on the defense that could help the defense in Shaun Rogers and D'Qwell Jackson.

They also have a quarterback that knows the Patriots system very well. That is Brady Quinn. Now I know that is the tough part of the sell as it should be. Tom Brady has three Super Bowl rings and Brady Quinn hasn't really lived up to the hype. That is an indisputable fact, but there are factors involved.

Quinn is known for throwing the short passes and not having a great deep ball. That may be true, but how is that any different from Brady?

Brady throws a ton of short balls but Welker and Faulk can make defenders miss and run after the catch. Brady has also made some deep throws that weren't perfect but Moss has bailed him out with a great catch.

The reality is that Quinn and Brady are really mirror images of each other. I know that may sound hard to believe, but if you actually watch film on the two guys, you will see that the only difference is the players around them.

If you look only at their mechanics, you would be shocked at how they are almost identical. After all, both guys were mentored by Charlie Weis and have been very successful in the same system.

Therefore, the trade would look something like this. The Browns get Tom Brady. The Patriots would get three draft picks, either D'Qwell Jackson or Shaun Rogers, and Brady Quinn.

That would be a good trade for all parties involved. The Browns would get their franchise quarterback and Brady would have a new challenge.

The Patriots would get a lot younger and be able to rebuild that aging defense. Quinn would get a fresh start in a system that he knows very well with receivers that would complement his skills very well.

I know there will be some that will just think that trading Tom Brady is out of the question no matter what.

I can certainly understand that after how much he has meant to this team. However to those skeptics I ask, do you think Brady Quinn could run this offense at least as good as Matt Cassel did?