Posted by Mike Petraglia

1994: Patriots appear headed for St. Louis, only to remain in New England.

1997: Bill Parcells leaves the Patriots in the wake of Super Bowl XXXI.

1999: Patriots appear headed to Hartford, only to remain in New England with the promise of a new 68,000 seat stadium in Foxboro.

2000: One day after Bill Parcells hands him the reigns, Bill Belichick leaves as HC of the NYJ without coaching a game and winds up in NE.

All of the above OFF-SEASON stories had their own drama for the Patriots. Now we come to this year.

For the first time since 2002, the Patriots haven’t made the NFL postseason party and all the news is being made off the field.

The two central figures are Scott Pioli, Pats V.P. of Personnel, and Josh McDaniels, the team’s offensive coordinator. Throw in a pinch of Eric Mangini, Jeff Jagodzinski and now Brad Seely, and you have quite the tasty stew to whet the appetite of the Boston football fan. (Whet is an under-utilized word in my humble opinion).

Let’s start with the latest. Mangini according to our own Michael Holley, will be the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns by the end of this week. How sure are the parties that this is done, Mangenius is already targeting bringing his assistants with him to the shores of Lake Erie. Reports are that Mangini blew away Browns owner Randy Lerner in the interview process and made the decision relatively easy for Lerner. This is interesting because it would appear the decision on a head coach is being made before a new G.M. is on board. And presumably, it rules out Scott Pioli in Cleveland because of the Spygate mess involving Pioli, Mangini and Belichick over the last three years.

Josh McDaniels has also reportedly fared very well in the interview process around the league, namely Denver and St. Louis. Both teams have reportedly put McDaniels atop their wish list for their head coaching vacancies. Brad Seely, the Patriots special teams coach since 1999, before even Belichick, is getting some interest from new Seattle coach Jim Mora, according to the NFL Network’s Adam Schefter.

It appears Scott Pioli will end up in one of two places. Kansas City has interviewed the Pats G.M. and they were apparently impressed. If he doesn’t end up running the entire show with the Chiefs, expect Pioli to return for at least one more season in New England, with several crucial decisions remaining this winter for the Patriots. The Browns have turned their attention toward Philadelphia G.M. Tom Heckert.

Which brings us to the next thread of this football web. Tom E. Curran of NBCSports.com is reporting that while it would hardly be surprising to see Matt Cassel franchised to avoid the New York Jets picking him up or letting him go via free agency for nothing, NO DECISION has been made, contrary to an ESPN report by Chris Mortensen over the weekend. Curran has been one of the leading sources reporting the Tom Brady rehab story and says there has been concern over how fast his left knee is healing and when scar tissue might be removed to allow Brady to reach the next step of his comeback. Pioli, if he returns to New England, will have to sit down with Belichick and decide who to bring back and at what price tag. That will require a lot of thought and analysis and the Patriots need to know if Pioli will be helping them figure it all out.

How does Jeff Jagodzinski figure into all of this? Well, Jags will likely be looking for a new job, likely as a coordinator in the NFL, very shortly after getting the pink slip from Boston College for ALLEGEDLY misleading B.C. athletic director Gene DeFilippo about talking with the Jets about Mangini’s former job.

Could Jags wind up in Seattle with current Patriots special teams coach Brad Seely? That’s what our own Jon Meterparel seems to think and that makes a ton of sense, given that Jags was the offensive coordinator at Boston College in 1997-98 for a quarterback by the name of Matt Hasselbeck, who just so happens to be the Seahawks starting signal-caller (all due respect to Seneca Wallace).