Will Matt Cassel be the next Rob Johnson?
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Most Jets fans weren't upset back in Week 1 when hearing that Matt Cassel would quarterback the New England Patriots for the rest of the season.
Cassel has played very well this season. Extremely well if you consider the fact that prior to this season, he hadn't taken a meaningful snap in a game since high school in 1990.
And now he's going to be a free agent after this season, which has me thinking about another quarterback from the 1990s: Rob Johnson.
You remember him, right? He started one game in 1997 in place of injured Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell. Johnson went 20-for-24 for 294 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 31 yards and another score.
That was good enough to get Johnson a five-year, $25-million deal in Buffalo, where he promptly developed a habit of never saying no to a sack.
One game set up Johnson financially for the rest of his life. Crazy stuff. With each touchdown pass or 400-yard game, Cassel adds dollars to his bank account. Should he get the Patriots deep into the playoffs, he'll add a zero to the end of his final number for each win.
When Cassel hits the free agent market this offseason, there will be quite a few teams in the market for an upgrade at quarterback. Detroit, Miami, the Jets (who knows what Favre will do?, San Francisco, Kansas City, Minnesota and Tampa Bay just to name a few. Even the Patriots may show interest depending on how Brady's rehab goes.
Of course, Cassel has a much larger body of work to judge him on than did Johnson. But the parallel is there. A top-flight quarterback gets hurt and the unknown backup in a contract year takes his place and does well. Hey, forget Johnson. Cassel could be the next Willie Beamen!
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Comments (5)
Cassell, Cassell, I know that name from somewhere...
Didn't the Rampaging Hordes of the Monongahela recently pillage and burn some Cassels in the distant regions of New Anglia?
That's it! Thanks I505!!! He was hiding behind five big guys... but we found him and if memory serves me correctly, there wasn't much left of him when the Stillers were through. :-)
If you're gonna bring in Cassel you should also be hiring McDaniels as your HC. A little system insurance, if you will.
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