Jesus christ people have been saying this for like 10 years now. Stop the madness. The Pats don't think like this.
Edit: or what
@Stitch01 said
There's a big difference between "cashing in all your chips" and "maximizing your potential to win".
Do people really think that trading JG (for a good return) is "cashing in all your chips"?
He's not even a major chip right now. He
might be, down the road. We don't really know that.
But, a "might be, down the road" chip might not be as valuable as a first round draft pick.
That pick could easily turn into a great pass rusher, or O-line pickups, or whatever. Would having that asset in the near term help or hinder the ability of the ability of the Patriots to win?
(I do take issue with what heavyde050 said: it would not be a failure if the Pats don't win an additional Super Bowl title. That's too high a bar.)
Unless BB thinks JG has the potential to be irreplaceably good (I don't know, top 1/4 or 1/3 of league QB's?), then he's replaceable.
Will BB sacrifice the very good potential to win in the next few years (using current assets, in a responsible way, to bolster the apocryphal "Brady Window") based on the assumption that JG is so certain to be good that BB thinks he can't groom a real replacement in the next couple of years?
What would happen if they traded JG, Brady goes down next year, and JB is terrible (bottom third or worse)?
Would BB be able to take on a veteran for a couple of years? Is the performance upside of JG so much higher than some other adequate veteran?
Don't forget: JG might not prove to be as open to long term contract deals as Brady has been. If he's good, and demands to get paid top dollar, does that then negatively impact BB's ability to put together a winner as BB has to either pay huge sums for that position, or seek out a replacement down the road anyway?