Tag, You're It! The New England Patriot's Quarterback System

On Opening Day the New England Patriots lost Tom Terrific for the year and Patriot Nation was about to go into mourning.  They had seen the future in Matt Cassel and it wasn't good.  Well a funny thing happened on the way to Foxboro, the Patriots discovered that they may have a quarterback controversy.

Cassel hadn't started a game since high school; as a redshirt freshman in 2001 he backed up Carson Palmer. When Palmer left for the NFL, Matt thought his time had come, but another future Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart outplayed him and got the starting job.

Matt never complained and fortunately in 2005 he was drafted by the New England Patriots in the seventh round.  Again he was a back-up to a superstar, this time a three-time Super Bowl winner.  He was probably happy just to be there, knowing he wasn't high on anyone's draft board.

The times he did play in the preseason and garbage time of blowout games, he didn't impress.  No one saw the 11-5 record coming in his first ever full season as a starter in the NFL.  It's a shame the secondary was too young and the linebacker corps was too long in the tooth.  Any other year, a record like that gets you into the playoffs.

Brady's 18 touchdowns and a quarterback rating as a starter in 2001: 86.5

Matt Cassel's 21 touchdowns and a quarterback rating as a starter in 2008: 89.4

Rumor has it that Brady is behind in his rehab efforts, but of course the Patriots do not talk about injured players.  Franchising "the boy wonder" Cassel makes sense with Brady's recovery in question. If Brady does manage to be able to start on day one for the 2009 season, then the Pats have a bargaining chip.

They can use Cassel as trade bait and get help for the defensive backfield, and while they are at it pick up another tight end and a running back.  They need an upgrade at those positions.

The Patriots have hit pay dirt twice once in the sixth round in 2001 with Brady and again in the seventh round in 2005 with Cassel. Patriot Nation can now breathe a sigh of relief because the Patriots will place the franchise tag on Matt Cassel.