Assante Samuel, will once again be available in FA. His agent struck a deal ensuring he can't be franchised if the Pats win 12 games or more. Samuel is again leading the conference with 6 picks. The game is a playmaker in any system, and picking him up prior to the draft will basically finish off our secondary with 3 blue chip players, including Revis and Rhodes. Yes, he'll cost a lot of money, but that's Tannebaum's job (maybe the only thing he's good at. Johnson's got start spending some of the money he's taking from us in tickets and parking, especially with the new stadium coming. Here's some quotes from today's Globe: "I believe he's in that category of elite cornerbacks in the league with Champ Bailey in Denver and Al Harris in Green Bay and Nnamdi Asomugha with the Raiders because he is consistent," said Woodson, now an analyst for the NFL Network. "Asante is right there with everybody. He leads the league in interceptions and he's an elite corner. That's hard to do. When you're an elite corner, usually you're not going to get a lot of picks." Woodson was adamant that Samuel is not a product of the Patriots' system. "I would argue with whoever says that because it's not like a Cover-2 system," Woodson said. "I believe Asante can go anywhere and fit in and play well." If the Patriots want Samuel to remain here, it could mean having to offer him a Nate Clements-type deal. Clements, who played out a franchise year with the Bills last season, was rewarded by the 49ers during the offseason with an eight-year, $80 million contract that included $22 million in bonuses and guarantees. Key to Clements's deal is that in the first three years of the contract he is slated to earn $28.9 million.
Man, that'll be a sick tandem but the amount of money Samuels is gonna ask for could be used to fill many other holes. Also I don't think Pats are gonna let him walk. For the first time that I can remember Belicheat praised Samuels on his performance.....and the guy held out of training camp. Look for the Pats to lock him up IMO.
While Samuels would be good here, we have to do some major buying for the Offensive and Defensive lines in FA. If we do not make that our priority in the off-season before the draft then nothing will change next year. With Samuel in our Defensive backfield running backs may only get 8 or 9 yards a carry instead of 12 or more.
DB's are not as great a concern as the O AND D-lines. If we are going to speand any real money let's throw the money in the trenches.
Ha cmon on now why would Assante want to play for a shit team like ours when there will be other teams out there who will also pay him what he wants & are far closer to a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP then us?
Guess U did not read my earlier post there will be OTHERs who are much, much closer to the CHAMPIONSHIP then us that will pay him what he wants so you can forget about him playing nnext to Revis in green/white
I did read it....and I agree with you he won't be playing here. I'm just saying for a guy like Samuels its all about money now.
no thanks. we can?t afford to tie up all that money on a single player. The 9ers will be completley screwed for the next at least 5 years. only cuz they had one bad offseason.
The money needs to go to the lines..it would be sick to have both but revis will be better than him in two years anyway
I disagree with some of the posts, I think Samuel will be a jet for a few reasons: 1. Mangini knows him and Samuel knows the patriots. Getting samuel weakens the patriots substantially in their secondary since they have no other good players. 2. The Patriots can't sign him they don't have the cap space. Brady's cap number is 15 million plus next season and they have to franchise Randy Moss. 3. With Samuel in the secondary the Jets can blitz all day long. With a good draft defensively this team could have a really good pass defense.
I can't believe anybody would waste their breath on something as ridiculous as this with all the problems this team has. Wasn't one wasted pick on a CB enough?
Spend some money on the D-line, beef up the pass rush so it's consistent, stuff up the running lanes, and our secondary starts to look a whole heck of a lot better without pushing in $'s that way....... course, someone has to find the key to Woody's wallet.....
Because we went from 10-6 to 2-14 or 3-13, that's why. The last thing in the world this team needed was a CB. It would be even more ridiculous next year.
Well if Revis turns out to be top of the line & not just another average player then I disagree with ur post since shut down corners are extremely hard to come by. I am more pissed that we had to "waste" a draft choice on securing Harris because JV was a floperoo
I take it you over evaluated the talent on our team from last year and expected us to make a Sb Push this year? We needed a Cb and Need another one. Just not as bad as the other positions on Defense. Were you happy with Barrett, Miller and Poteat?
