The other major difference in the Cassel-Garoppolo situations is that the Patriots didn’t go into the 2008 season with Cassel’s contract on their mind at all. They probably figured they’d re-sign him for peanuts after his rookie contract expired following the 2008 season, during which Brady would probably tickle that record of 50 touchdown passes once again.
If Belichick had used his cheatin’ crystal ball that summer to foresee that Brady would have suffered a complete tear of his left knee just seven minutes into the season, then Belichick surely would have signed Cassel to a contract extension which would have fetched him great offers from around the league following the 2008 season. But the world doesn’t work like that; you work with reality.
And reality, in that case, meant the Patriots had to apply the franchise tag on Cassel in order to salvage some of his value as an asset on the market. And that huge, wondrous, great return that the Patriots got? It was … a second-round pick. And that’s after also including Mike Vrabel, a defensive starter of 14 games in ’08, a three-time Super Bowl winner with the team, and a key veteran leader in the locker room.
So … a straight-up trade of eight weeks of the rights of Garoppolo fetched the Patriots a second-round pick.
And a trade of Cassel making franchise money plus Vrabel fetched the Patriots … a second-round pick.