Mel Kiper said on a call in show today that he thought Cassell was worth the number one overall pick in the draft, and that if he needed a QB, he'd make that trade in a hurry. 

 Let me state for the record that I think Mel Kiper is over-rated and he's wrong as much as he's right.  But if he's putting that out there, at least some people must think that way.  So I started to think about it.  What if Detroit or KC came calling with their first round picks.  What would the Patriots do?  Is there some player out there that they'd want to pay top money to/

 When you think about the first overall pick in the draft, you have to know that you're talking big money.  Last year the first pick in the draft, OT Jake Long, got $57.5 million over 5 years.  That's serious money.  When you think about the Patriots needs, is there any player in the draft you'd want to pay that much money for?  I think not. 

The Pats need help at corner, and I'd love to see Jenkins in a Pats uniform.  But he's a reach at #1 and even #3.  And if the Patriots were going to spend that much on a corner, they could have just kept Asante last year. 

Two years ago the 3rd overall pick, OT Joe Thomas got a 6 year, $43 million deal.  Couldn't compare to last year because Matt Ryan gets a contract bump since he's a QB.  That's a little more reasonable, but probably still more than the Pats would pay a corner. 

The problem is, the positions the Pats value highly enough to spend that amount of money on aren't positions they could afford to spend that much on.  I think the Pats would consider paying a top DT or LT that much, but with the entire D-Line under contract for another year (and needing to be resigned next year) and with Matt Light firmly entrenched as the LT, the Pats simply don't want those picks.

So even if Kiper is right and Cassell is worth a top draft pick, I don't think the Patriots would be particularly interested.