The Kansas City Chiefs traded a second round choice for their starting quarterback Matt Cassel in 2009 when Scott Pioli maneuvered for his former backup quarterback in New England. Now the Green Bay Packers are having to decide how to handle their own backup quarterback’s value as Matt Flynn is set to hit the market. Do they let him walk or do they franchise him and try to trade him to a quarterback needy team?
“Flynn is about to enter free agency, but the Packers would never be foolish enough to let him walk away for nothing,” writes Vince Verhel of Football Outsiders. "They’ll likely franchise him and trade him away for picks, just like New England did with Matt Cassel, though there is inherent risk in that decision because Flynn could opt to accept the tag. The Pats sent Cassel and Mike Vrabel to Kansas City for a second-round pick.
“Given how many teams are desperate for quality young quarterbacks to build around — Seattle, Miami and Washington, to name some of the top candidates — the Pack are bound to get more than that for Flynn. Any team that gets Flynn for a first-round pick may well have gotten quite a bargain.”
That’s obviously high praise for Flynn and not everyone feels so high on him, but all it takes is one team to fall in love with Flynn’s potential for the Packers to receive the payoff that they want.