And as a result, many Patriots fans will be up in arms saying that Pioli got the best of the Patriots.
But look at what the Patriots were able to get out of this:
They cleared up more than $14 million in cap space by moving Matt Cassel.
They got more $5 million cap space and got some value from a player (Vrabel) that was set to be a free agent after the 2009 season.
All of this for the thirty-fourth pick in the draft. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t think that the Patriots will add an outstanding player to their roster with this pick?
Remember also… Wilfork and Seymour are set to be free agents after 2009, and Logan Mankins has a deal coming up as well. This provides the room to lock up these players for the rest of their careers (or in the case of Mankins, most of his career), and it still leaves enough cash for the Patriots to land a major free agent if that is what they are after.
They might arguably have been able to squeeze more out of KC, but they are looking pretty good after this trade.
