Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Matt Cassel to sign Tender

Matt Cassel
Story from Reiss' Pieces on Boston.com

An NFL source has confirmed, as first reported by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, that Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel and his representatives sent a letter Saturday notifying the Patriots that Cassel accepts the non-exclusive franchise tag and the one-year, $14.65 million tender that goes with it.

This is akin to the sides agreeing to contract terms.

All that remains is for the Patriots to send Cassel a formal contract with the tender offer and he will sign it, guaranteeing himself a significant raise from the $520,000 he made last season. (Unlike standard NFL contracts, franchise tenders are guaranteed for the full amount.)

The Patriots notified Cassel via a letter Thursday that they were designating him as their franchise player. Cassel's letter is a response to that letter.

The franchise tender number for Cassel is the average of the top five salaries at the quarterback position.

Cassel's acceptance of the $14.65 million tender means that the Patriots will have $29.27 million of the $123 million salary cap allocated to two quarterbacks, Cassel and Tom Brady, who will make $5 million in base salary in 2009 and an additional $3 in bonus money, but will carry a $14.62 million salary cap number due to the amortization of past bonus money.

Having that much money tied up in two quarterbacks suggests the Patriots most likely will trade one of them, with the 26-year-old Cassel being the obvious candidate, for salary cap relief.

Another option would be to try to keep both quarterbacks, but either extend the contract of Brady, whose contract runs through the 2010 season, or work out more than a one-year deal with Cassel.

Porche Returns

A fine demonstration of the Puckered Corn Hole Bazooka maneuver by the Joey Porshe crew.joey porche