Vote on the answer of your choice and/or comment below.

A mid-first OR a 2nd in April, and a 2010 conditional pick possibly going up to a 1st round pick

I don't know what happened to my poll I started here, so just post your thoughts.

I think that since everyone knows the Pats must trade him, that his value goes down.

I don't think he'll get what Atlanta got for Shaub, though he is as good as Schaub now on most people's value boards I would imagine.

I'd say a high 2nd and a high 4th would be about right, although I suspect the trade will end up being a pick and a player.

I think the Schaub deal is a good litmus test, actually. That's why I posted what I did. It's a similiar price tag, one that Houston would've been wiser to go with at the time given Schaub's injuries.

Oh, and yes, New England MUST trade him. When will they trade him (pre-draft or post-draft), that's the question. The timing will be important. Teams are usually a little looser with the draft picks in June than March.

Very, very true. And the Pats are a patient team, and can afford to be--especially if Peppers comes to town as so many are suggesting he might.

This is kind of tangential to Cassel, but very interesting nonetheless:

http://www.examiner.com/x-1324-New-England...Nnamdi-Asomugha

Saw some interesting numbers... between the two QBs, the Pats will have nearly $30 million of their cap invested in two players. Add in the contracts of Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, and Richard Seymour, and we're looking at nearly half of the cap money in 5 players.

They absolutely have to trade Cassel.

Very interesting piece into today's Boston Globe:

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper is holding a conference call today and the
Patriots came up a few times.

Kiper was asked to put himself in the position of the Lions (picks 1,
20, and 33) and Chiefs (picks 3 and 34), assuming they were considering
taking quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez in the draft.

Given that, would he take Stafford or Sanchez, or would he rather have
Matt Cassel in a trade?

"If I were Detroit or Kansas City, I would make that move in a
heartbeat. If you're asking me if I would rather have Matt Cassel or
Matthew Stafford or Mark Sanchez, I'd rather have Matt Cassel," Kiper
answered.

Kiper doubted that Cassel would be available, however, saying he's an
insurance policy for Tom Brady.

"He looked like he should have been the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
It's amazing. To watch him play this year, if he would have been the No.
1 pick in the draft, people would have been very happy with the way he's
playing right now," Kiper said.

"He came out the same year the other three quarterbacks did [Alex Smith,
Aaron Rodgers, Jason Campbell] and right now he's better than those
other three - and I'm including [Jay] Cutler in that. I would rather
have Cassel than Cutler. So, to me, I think Cassel is more than worthy
of being a guy that the Kansas City Chiefs or Detroit Lions go after.
He's played to the level of a No. 1 pick overall this year."

At one point, Kiper was asked if he sees good value where the Patriots
are picking in the first round (23rd selection) when it comes to
defensive backs and linebackers.

"Yeah, I think linebacker could be a very good position - the Clay
Matthews, the Brian Cushings, Larry English, those type of players would
probably be there for New England at that point," Kiper answered.

"In the secondary, the same thing. There are going to be some guys
possibly there at the cornerback spot. Maybe a safety like William Moore
[of Missouri]. But more likely a corner will still be there at that
point. That could be a D.J. Moore at Vanderbilt, a Sean Smith at Utah -
a player like that could still be there.

"I would say, linebacker, it could fall pretty well for New England. The
player I had them taking in the projection I made was Brian Cushing of
USC."

Kiper said that Cushing is versatile and could play a lot of different
roles in a defense.

Right now the Pats have about $3MM in cap space with 50 guys signed. They need to sign 11 more to round out the roster and fill the practice squad. They have 8 draft picks to sign so they need to bring in 3 F/A. They could of course free some cap if they re-do some contracts but let's assume they don't do that for now. Let's assume they actually keep Cassel because Brady isn't ready and they can't get fair value in a trade. I estimate they will need to clear another $7MM in cap to keep Cassel. Here's how they could do it. The below is from Miguel and the numbers represent cap savings if cut or retired.

Jarvis Green - $2.5MM
Tedy Bruschi - $2.0MM
Stephen Neal - $2.6MM

There's your savings right there and Cassel could be kept. Obviously we'd need to for sure now draft MLB, DE and OG and now sign three more F/A but it could be done.

I still contest that they will find a way to trade Cassel and continue to build thru the draft as they do so well!

Willie McGinest stated yesterday on NFL Network that he and Tom Brady text each other all the time and TB says the knee is ahead of schedule. He's doing agility drills and will be back on time. That's good news for trading Cassel. The bad news is SF has dropped out of the MC sweepstakes. It's looking like KC at #33 and a 2010 pick as our best shot.

Detroit is still in the running too. I'm hearing they are considering the #33 pick, plus next year's first rounder for MC and our #58. All we must have is two teams who both want him badly...

Man, I'm in the wrong business.