When former Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett did the draft day Slip ‘N’ Slide, Patriots coach Bill Belichick was praised for squatting on Mallett in round three. Among other things, the pundits believed Belichick eventually would flip Mallett for a third-round pick or more down the road.
It’s now officially down the road, and it looks like Mallett will soon be out the door.
On Monday’s edition of PFT Live, Tom Curran of CSNNE.com said he believes that, without a trade, Mallett will be cut. The possibility that this year’s potential buy-low-sell-lower rookie, Jimmy Garropolo, will play the entirety of the preseason finale suggests that the Pats hope to avoid an injury to Mallett, which could put the team on the hook for his entire base salary of $776,976.
So if Mallett’s going to be cut, how could he have any trade value? Because Mallett has only three years of service, he’ll have to pass through waivers if he’s released. For a team relatively low on the pecking order, the only way to get Mallett would be to trade for him.
For the Patriots, anything will be better than nothing. Ultimately, the only thing they may get is a conditional seventh-round pick.
Here’s the entire segment with Curran, which focused initially on Curran’s belief that Peyton Manning should bear some of the blame for receiver Wes Welker’s most recent concussion.