Tenorio: Cassel-Vrabel trade gives Pats fans case of Mass. hysteria

Many members of the media seem to think Patriots fans should react to their team’s trade of Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel for a second-round draft pick as hysterically as Talia Shire confronting Al Pacino in the closing scenes of “The Godfather.” A look at the specifics suggests otherwise.This trade is not as lopsided as it seems. Yes, Cassel filled in magnificently while Tom Brady rehabbed his injured left knee last season. However, the New York Times reported, “Saturday’s trade signaled that the Patriots were comfortable with Brady’s progress.” As for Vrabel, last season he had less than half the tackles that Jerod Mayo made ? and while the lining-up-with-the-offense gimmick was cute, any team that falls for it in the future should be kicked out of the league.Now consider the financial angle. The Times labeled New England “among the teams with the least amount of cap space entering free agency,” and said the Pats “freed themselves of a $14.65 million commitment, the amount they would have had to pay for a year after putting the franchise tag on Cassel.” In one sense, it’s amazing the team got anything at all for Cassel and Vrabel. The Indianapolis Colts simply released record-setting receiver Marvin Harrison. So did the Pats with Lawyer Milloy just before the 2004 season. (And we all know how badly that season turned out!)While playing “What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?”, fans might notice a few promising developments for their team. Just as the Pats shipped out Cassel and Vrabel, they brought in a new running back, Fred Taylor, from the Jacksonville Jaguars. This might seem like a non-story. Taylor is 33 years old, and he rushed for only 556 yards and one touchdown last year. But the year before that, he had 1,202 rushing yards. And he comes to the Pats at a perfect time. One of their running backs from last season, LaMont Jordan, has signed with the Denver Broncos; another, Laurence Maroney, gets injured more than Bill Walton. So it’s good to see the Pats keeping their running game a priority and making sure they won’t have another rushing effort in a Super Bowl like they did in 1986 (a grand total of seven yards on the ground against the Chicago Bears).It also appears the Patriots might get something more for Cassel and Vrabel than a second-round pick. (And who says second-round picks are a waste? Vrabel was a third-rounder by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1997, while the Pats waited till Round 7 to take Cassel in 2005.) All that money freed up in the trade could go toward Carolina Panthers star defensive end Julius Peppers, whose guaranteed salary this year – $16.683 million after the Panthers franchised him – is only $2 million more than what Cassel would have made with the Pats in 2009.The Charlotte Observer sounded pessimistic about Peppers leaving the Panthers now, saying that “finding a team he wants to play for, with the salary-cap room to meet his contract requirements, and with the desire and wherewithal to satisfy Carolina’s compensatory needs” – which appear to be the value of two first-round picks – “could be difficult.” Unless, of course, you’ve just traded two unnecessary players and added a draft pick.Someday, Patriots fans will realize that Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel are not the equivalents of Joe Montana and Lawrence Taylor.Someday, they will see that top teams are built and rebuilt around many players, including under-appreciated running backs and (maybe) four-time Pro Bowl defensive ends. Someday, Patriots Nation will realize all this. As Humphrey Bogart would say, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of their lives.But lately, Patriots Nation has traded its sanity for hysteria in the wake of a simple football transaction. Cassel and Vrabel won’t be returning to New England, but here’s hoping Pats fans get their reality check back.Rich Tenorio is an Item sports copy editor.