I admit I was caught off guard as much as anyone by the Richard Seymour trade this weekend, but it could be one of those classic Bill Belichick moves.

First of all, there's a reason the Patriots make so many deals with the Raiders (Derrick Burgess, Randy Moss, et al): they feel they are fleecing Al Davis and Co. nine times out of 10. For every one trade these teams make that slants in the Raiders' favor (Doug Gabriel comes to mind), nine others go in favor of New England. Remember, also, that they made a Draft Day trade that allowed the Pats to take Matt Cassel, although you hardly can blame Oakland for that.

Beyond that, this trade has economics written all over it. Seymour is someone the Patriots might miss some this season, but he might not be a top-10 NFL defensive lineman anymore -- and yet he still wants to be paid like one. The Patriots don't pay players top salaries when they are on the downside of their career, even if a player such as Seymour might have another three or four solid years.

The first-round pick in 2011 made some fans shake their heads, but this pick could be incredibly valuable in two years. Not only could the Raiders be bad, making the pick a top-10 choice, but it also could hold more relative league value because most people expect a more stringent rookie wage scale to be in place with the next CBA agreement. You know why people were not calling the Lions for the No. 1 pick this year? No one wanted to pay that much money. It's not that people around the league didn't like Matthew Stafford; it's that they didn't like Stafford at $40-plus million guaranteed. The top choice in '11 is sure to make less than that with new restrictions on rookie salaries that both players and owners appear to be in favor of.

The Patriots have enough up front to be a good defense, and though it does make you wonder why a Super Bowl team would trade one of its best defenders, it also shows you that Belichick is not going anywhere and that he still thinks he can win it all without Seymour. Other than Asante Samuel, I can't think of a veteran that the Patriots have let go and probably regret doing so in the Belichick era.