Scott Pioli soon may learn there is no such thing as friends in the NFL, especially when they used to employ you as their gofer.

Pioli yesterday closed out what he believes was a blockbuster deal with the Patriots [team stats] that landed him his franchise quarterback (literally, in this case), Matt Cassel, and Mike Vrabel, a linebacker who can settle Kansas City’s troubled defense.

And perhaps he did. But if the many in these parts who believe Bill Belichick is Einstein in a hoodie are correct, what Pioli may have gotten instead is Scott Mitchell the sequel and an expensive linebacker on the wrong end of the football timeline.

For the Patriots, this was a best-case scenario. It freed up $17.85 million on their cap and allowed them to get rid of a 12-year veteran whose game had begun to slip as well as a guy Belichick clearly believes was destined to become the most expensive backup in NFL history had he stayed.

Belichick may be proven wrong on the latter point, but it was clearly part of his thinking, because there’s no way he would have left his team exposed at quarterback, the game’s most critical position.

What the Patriots learned during the past few weeks is the market for Cassel was neither deep nor strong. Even two teams thought to be interested, Detroit and Tampa, are now said to have been seeking Cassel only to deal him to Denver to acquire the more highly regarded Jay Cutler.

If those whispers are true, then there was no market for Cassel outside of Kansas City, which has enough cap space to carry his $14.65 million franchise tag until it can work out a long-term deal.cw-2

To net only a second-round choice for Cassel and Vrabel may seem as though a fire sale went on in Foxboro, especially when you consider that was the price the Eagles paid for A.J. Feeley and what it cost Miami to land the one-legged Daunte Culpepper.cw-3

But if Cassel performs the way they did, it was a steal for Belichick. And there are far more personnel men around pro football who doubt Cassel than ones who believe he’s quarterback of an 11-5 team.

They think his five losses to playoff-contending teams said more about his long-term chances than the 11 wins did against the likes of the Chiefs, 49ers, Seahawks, Bills and Rams.

“I look at Cassel and I think Scott Mitchell,” one longtime NFC personnel man said yesterday. “That’s who I see.”

Pioli better hope not, because that $5 million-a-year seat he’s occupying could become vacant in a hurry if Cassel turns into Mitchell and Vrabel plays like Willie McGinest did in Cleveland.

Like Vrabel, McGinest was a 12-year veteran when he was let go by the Pats. He was two years removed from the second-best year of his career, a 9-sack season, but he’d slipped to six sacks in 2005 and that slide continued with the Browns, where he had four, three and last season only one sack.

Similarly, Vrabel has played 12 years, the past eight in New England. Two years ago he had his most productive season with 12 sacks. Last year he slipped to four and hinted at a shoulder problem related to offseason surgery. Now he’s gone and will arrive in Kansas City at the same age and experience level as McGinest did when he went to Cleveland. After 12 years in the NFL, linebackers do not typically improve. They usually implode.

If Vrabel turns into McGinest and Cassel is Mitchell, Pioli will have learned a hard lesson about friendship, NFL style.

In 1993, Mitchell stepped in for the injured Dan Marino and played well enough to convince the Detroit Lions to pay him a ton of money the following season. He started for four years, went 27-28 and was 0-2 in the playoffs.

Mitchell’s solid play in Miami proved a mirage, even though he went to a far more talented offensive team in Detroit (Barry Sanders, Herman Moore, Brett Perriman) than Cassel will inherit in Kansas City.

The Chiefs have an unhappy running back in Larry Johnson, an unhappy tight end in Tony Gonzalez and a wide receiving corps Cassel will find far less user friendly than Randy Moss and Wes Welker.

In the end only time will tell if Cassel is a player worth the money he’ll be paid, if Vrabel can justify his $3.2 million salary this season and if Brady’s knee is sound. But from what we know today it looks like Belichick didn’t do his old friend any favors, which is no surprise because he’s not in the business of doing favors. He’s in the football business.

“Bill Belichick wouldn’t do his mother a favor,” one NFL insider scoffed yesterday. “Anybody who looks at this deal and thinks he did doesn’t know him. Or the guys he just traded.”

It’s food for thought.

I will eat Bamboo and Whistler’s for you.

The Patriots, a team that was already hurting for cap space and intended to be active in Free Agency, the last thing they want is a 3rd overall pick to take up more cap….

Besides mate, Free Agency isn’t over…the draft isn’t over….we will not be playing behind last years O-Line…keep that little nugget in mind…

That’s one of the best things about this deal. The Broncos brought in a coach whose specialty is working with quarterbacks, and now his quarterback is pissed off at him because of the blockbuster trade they wanted to do but couldn’t because we did. Go Chiefs!

Breathe deeply, Tim. The Australia air is cleaner than here, so it won’t hurt you.