Ok, the final tally is

Vrabel AND Matt Cassel to the Chiefs, for their second round pick (34th overall)

i was expecting maybe more in return for cassell..

Yeah I was kinda surprised that Cassel ended up going to the Chiefs. For awhile I thought the Pats were gonna hold onto him. They must be pretty confident that Brady will be back in full form for the regular season. What did the Pats end up getting out of the deal? I still have a feeling they'll go after Derrick Brooks. Any rumors on teams going after him so far?

Yeah, no word on the Derrick Brooks story yet. Basically the market sucked for casell, so i think they were just doing the best they could. Pioli KNEW the market sucked, for obvious reasons, and played it to his advantage. Pats were in a tough spot. Hold onto him, when even DETROIT didn't want him for a first rounder, or take what was offered. Sometimes it 'takes money to make money' as the saying goes, and Pioli wasn't gonna get shafted. In the end, the loss that hurts is a (admittedly slowed) vrabel, who I think is a huge locker room presence and will be sorely missed, but also opens up some cap space, (as well as cassel) the pats now have 4 second rounders I think, and Belicheck is a wizard in that area, so it could pay dividends. You tend to get your best 'talent for the money' type guys there, which is what Belicheck loves.

and I'm STILL waiting for the Brooks-Patriots release

Im really surprised that they let Cassel go. Who is gonna back up Brady? I wonder if Scott Zolak is still around? That guys face was freaking huge.

wow. i haven't thought of zolak in at least a decade. They have some kid who they drafted last year. shows some promise, Kevin Oconnor, or something like that

They need to get this guy to back up Brady...talk about a big head....