There are two things you need to know, and the order of them is vital:

1. I was not dropped on my head as a child.

2. The Patriots need to trade Tom Brady.

This is not a wacky proposition, but it is laden with risk and it is unprecedented.  True, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Herschel Walker, and the draft rights to Cannabis Williams were all part of NFL mega deals.  Dickerson and Faulk went on to enjoy great individual success after being traded, whereas Herschel and Ricky became two of the league’s most infamous duds in recent memory.  All of this is immaterial, however.  Consider that these four players are running backs, Faulk was the only one to become a catalyst for a deep playoff run on his new team, and none were coming off of massive surgery prior to their trades.  The NFL has had mega deals, but no such deal has involved a record shattering, Super Bowl winning quarterback in the prime of his career.  To be sure, New England imperils its dynasty by shipping him.  But they could just as easily miss out on the opportunity of the century by doing nothing.

Brady’s shredded knee ligaments leave the Patriots in uncharted territory.  Theismann is an unfair comparison, because he never had the opportunity to rehab.  Carson Palmer is, perhaps, more apropos given the nature of his injury, but his successful recovery, immediate return to top form, and subsequent decline have seemed to be the product of a poorly assembled team and not a poorly assembled leg.  By all accounts, Brady’s injury is worse than Palmer’s.  Palmer rehabbed in his 20s; Brady will not be able to make his return until 32 at best.  In short, Brady’s situation is all his own.  The Pats roll the dice by keeping him.  They roll the dice by dealing him.  It’s a crapshoot either way.

The fact that Matt Cassel proved his worth in such convincing fashion this past year should be enough to convince New England’s top brass to invest the franchise’s future in him.  There is no reason to believe that individual success on this roster is a fluke.  The team is always well-stocked with talent.  The team is always well-coached.  The team has always shown a penchant for unearthing “finds”—it would seem that Cassel is just another.  Will he post positively meteoric stats along the lines of those that Brady registered in ‘07?  Likely not.  Then again, Brady is the only option available to the Patriots that is capable of sniffing them.  The numbers should not be the concern, anyway.  The winning should be the concern.  The economics should be the concern.

With a complete neophyte under center who hadn’t seen a snap since Nickelodeon was actually cool, New England amassed 11 wins and missed the playoffs this year by virtue of a fluke and little else.  That neophyte put up 21 TDs and 11 INTs.  That neophyte completed 64% of his passes and narrowly missed 4,000 yards.  That neophyte is no longer a newbie.  He is a capable starter.  He may never become a Pro Bowler, but the Patriots may never need him to be one.  Keep in mind that the prevalent debate of years past was “Manning vs. Brady,” a.k.a., “Manning’s numbers vs. Brady’s wins.”  It was only in 2007 that Brady emerged as a supreme stat-filler.  Before he was “Brady the Leader” and “Brady the Champion.”  His intangible qualities set him apart.  To be fair, those intangibles may be more important to his team than ever in the coming years.

But according to the Boston Herald, New England is prepared to franchise Cassel for the suggested retail price of $14 million in 2009.  Brady is set to make only a shade more than that amount over the next two seasons.  Although this isn’t “writing on the wall” in any way, it does reflect the need for the Pats to remain ahead of the curve.  Moss and Welker, who form one of the NFL’s top flight receiving duos, each signed contract extensions within the past two years.  Several quarterbacks can make-do with such a tandem.  Cassel, as we have seen, is one of them.  If he can post 24 TDs, 12 INTs and roughly 3,750 yards per season over the course of the next few years, he will have almost done exactly as Brady did in his Super Bowl-winning seasons.  It’s not that unreasonable.

Brady’s contract expires at the end of the 2010 season.  There are multiple teams in the NFL that would jump at the opportunity to acquire him given his relatively modest price tag ($8 million per).  There’s no telling what New England could acquire in a trade, but it’s difficult to imagine a scenario that wouldn’t involve several top draft picks.  We all know what the Pats would do with them—reload and win.  Using the draft effectively is always one of the best ways to ensure that a franchise's stability projects to the future.

Trading Brady makes sense.  And it makes cents.