Well, I know how Tom Curran would vote in the poll below. Touchdown Tommy said he believes the Patriots will franchise Cassel with the intention of keeping him for 2009. Curran's contacts within the organization rival anyone, so we should take this bit of informed speculation seriously.

Curran doesn't believe that the Patriots will really be able to wait to see how Brady's recovery is going. He thinks Cassel will play next year, and that "most likely" Brady will start the year on the PUP list. Wow. We have a looong way to go with this story, but there appears to be a better chance of a Brady/Cassel combo for '09 than imagined.