A free insider story from ESPN.com... Paying Samuel isn't Patriots' only option at corner By KC Joyner ESPN Insider (Archive) Updated: February 13, 2008 Comment Email One of the big free-agent questions this offseason is whether the New England Patriots will be able to keep cornerback Asante Samuel. Samuel's presumedly high price tag will certainly have a lot to do with the Patriots' decision. There are a number of reasons to think that Samuel has a lot of negotiating leverage. First, he is a young player on a defense that is starting to get very long in the tooth in a lot of places; five players who started on New England's defense last season will be on the wrong side of 30 at the beginning of the 2008 season. Second, the Patriots' other starting cornerback, Ellis Hobbs, posted a 9.6 yards per attempt last season, and he may have to be replaced as well. There are also more than a few teams that have ample cap space to make a run at Samuel. Asante Samuel Cornerback New England Patriots Profile 2007 Season Stats Tot Solo Ast FF Sack Int 46 43 3 0 0 6 Even with all of these factors on Samuel's side, he might not get a Nate Clements-like offer from the Pats. (The San Francisco 49ers gave Clements an eight-year, $80 million contract that included $22 million in 2007.) Samuel's 41.3 success percentage -- the percentage of plays a player does something successful with the ball -- and 7.4 YPA last season were both steps back from his 2006 totals in those categories (7.0 YPA and 48.8 success percentage). His six interceptions were also down from 2006, when he posted career high of 10, and three of his 2007 picks came against backup quarterbacks. Samuel's drop of the potential game-winning interception in Super Bowl XLII also didn't help his cause. To put this another way, Samuel's starting spot in last Sunday's Pro Bowl looks more like it was granted on his 2006 performance than his 2007 numbers and suggests he might be worthy of a place on my annual overrated players list. If those factors weren't enough to give the Patriots pause, there are some compelling alternate options to Samuel on the free-agent market. The first of these players is already on New England's roster, nickel cornerback Randall Gay. Gay had a superb 5.8 YPA last season and allowed zero completions on the seven vertical passes thrown his way. Those numbers indicate he has the potential to be a starter. Gay is almost certain to garner a lot of interest on the market, but he will not be priced at the elite cornerback level. He would not cost the Patriots anywhere near as much as Samuel and could potentially give them equal coverage value. A higher-priced option whom the Patriots' brain trust could pursue is Marcus Trufant. Trufant isn't always mentioned as being in Samuel's neighborhood as a shutdown cornerback, but his 2007 metrics indicate he should be: Marcus Trufant Depth Level Att Comp Yards TD INT Pen Pen Yds YPA Short 44 31 208 1 0 2 10 4.7 Medium 39 19 288 1 4 1 5 7.3 Deep 11 4 124 2 1 1 5 10.8 Bomb 9 1 45 0 1 0 0 5.0 Total 103 55 665 4 6 4 20 6.4 The concern about Trufant would be that his 2007 performance might be a result of playing in a contract year. I mention this because he hasn't performed as well in previous seasons. For example, in 2006 he allowed 9.0 YPA and had a success level of only 36.4 percent. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has worked wonders with up-and-down players in the past, however. Therefore, Trufant's inconsistency might not be as big of a concern for New England as it would be for many other teams. What it all may come down to for Samuel is whether Nnamdi Asomugha and Trufant are slapped with the franchise tag. If they are franchised, Samuel will be the only high-profile cornerback on the market and he likely will be able to name his price with some team, be it the Patriots or someone else. On the other hand, if Asomugha and Trufant hit the market, Samuel will be only one of three big-name defenders. In this scenario, Samuel could be viewed as the No. 3 cornerback available. As such, he might be hard-pressed to get the over-the-top contract value he has been looking forward to for the past two seasons.
Asante Samuel - OVERRATED. Don't waste big bucks on CB. If we can get a guy at a good value, go for it, but the "big bucks" need to be spent elsewhere.
I think Asante could be really good with Revis and a passrusher (Gholston, Chris Long, Crable, etc.), but I agree we shouldn't give him Nate Clements type money.
I'd still like to sign Samuel, just not at 10 mill per like Clements. Maybe Mangini can talk him down a bit or something... one can hope.
We want to avoid throwing around money in the secondary. Revis makes good money and Rhodes is going to warrant a big time contract. We need to draft a corner in the 4th round or so and develop. That way he's cheap and we can control and develop him. A great pass rush would make Revis, Poteat, Rhodes, Smith, Elam all look a lot better.
And Pats have prepared for losing Samuel this year... In the first round last year, they took DB Brandon Merriweather who can also play CB and I assume that's where they want him since they have Rodney Harrison, James Sanders and Eugene Wilson at safety. I think Samuel hits the market, but Asomugha and Trufant both remain with their teams.
I dont trust that guy's dubious statistics. The only thing I trust is my own two eyes, and everytime I watch Samuel I am convinced he's one of the best corners in the league. He's worth the money whether we pay him or not.
I totally agree. Having one of the most feared secondaries in the league will do us little good if the opposing offense is able to run 6 and 7 yards at will and their QB has all day to pass.
I agree with this....I don't consider the secondary a HUGE problem area for us, and that's pretty remarkable considering we put almost no pressure on the opposing QB's. If we fill our true holes the other pieces will fall into place.
Finally a thread w/posters who have some common sense. That other thread "Michael Smith says JETS & Cleveland for Asante Samuel" was just filled w/the "imagine how sick our secondardy would be w/Revis, Samuel and Rhodes" Sounds like the same guys who say "the Mercedes ML63 is the best SUV, why not get it if its available??"
I have no idea why people are making such a big deal out of people wanting to sign Samuels or a corner. I'm not saying I personally want to, but we *do* have the cap room and too many seem to be treating it like a bad idea are acting as if we couldn't possibly sign other FAs or draft guys who fill our line holes. Everyone KNOWS we have D-line and O-line problem. What some don't seem to realize is that we lack elite talent at almost every position....meaning if we can upgrade somewhere where an upgrade could help us short and long term...we should.
I have been wondering lately how great samuels really is... if he's really a shutdown 1v1 corner or if he's mostly a product of the system. For my money I would take Revis any day over Samuels. Trufant is MUCH better than Samuels iMO.
If we didnt draft Revis last year or have a shutdown corner already on our roster, I would say go for it. I have no problem signing a corner -- I've got Drayton Florence on my offseason wish list (I dont think Asimouga or Trufant are really going to be available anyway). We have such glaring needs on our O-line & D-line at the moment that we arent in the position to even consider Samuel. If you look at the list of highest paid guys in the NFL, I think the only ones on the list that are anywhere near the worth are Brady, Manning, Freeney & LT. Richard Seymour was paid super bucks on a new contract & that PATS didnt even miss him for the 1st 7 games of this year that he was injured. People cant just say "Oh I want Samuel because he is a shutdown corner and would make our secondary a killer" without even thinking about the pricetag this guy will demand. There is no way, NO WAY that this guy is going to take anything less than what Nate Clements signed for last year. I want a premier position player/legit superstar on the JETS as much as anyone else, but at the moment we need a minimum of 2 guys on our O-line, 2 guys on our D-line, 2 LBs, another CB & safety. This is not even addressing questions that people have about our QB, WR and RB positions. I'll be honest to say that I'm not 100% familiar w/how our available cap room could be worked to our advantage to get multiple players -- a la Asante Samuel + Jacob Bell + Stacy Andrews + Corey Williams/Tommy Kelley, & still have $$ left over to sign Rhodes long term & be under the cap the following year, then I would say go for it.
I'm just wondering why so anti-signing anyone but DL/OL in FA...I don't want to sign Samuels and I'm actually in the OL/DL camp... BUT say we did sign Samuels, it doesn't stop us from drafting a pass rusher, OL, DL...or even signing non-high level FA's besides Samuels. I completely agree we have too many holes, plus I don't like Samuels at all...but if we signed a big named CB or secondary player and people complained I'd be like dude wtf?
Dressen83 made a good point -- just what will the impact be on salary requirements in our secondary if we agree to $30 million guaranteed and $10 million per year for Samuels...? Assuming we make a deal with Rhodes beforehand, what will he think? How will this effect Revis in three years when he wants to renegotiate? What if the production of other CBs is equal to or greater than Samuels? What happens then? The NYJ Secondary unit inflation potential of a $100mm agreement with Asante to come here is corrosive at best, and suicidal at worst. Signing the top free agent in the League is for losers. I thought the NYJ was trying to win.
If the Super Bowl did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a monster pass rush, combined with clever blitz packages beats a great offense, I don't know what will. The Giants secondary is average at best and I don't remember a single time I heard their names mentioned. Remember the drive late where Brady picked the Giants apart and gave them the lead. On that drive almost every one of the front 4 of the Giants was being shuttled in and out because of exhaustion and look what the Pat's did. Without that pass rush the whole game would've been that way. Our secondary is better than the Giants as is. If there are to be 'impact players' being paid top dollar they have to be added up front. That's not to say we can't upgrade in the secondary though. Paying Samuel crazy money is like putting $4,000 dollar rims on a Kia. You can do it, but at the end of the day it's still a Kia...
This is pretty much every reason why I have said over and over again why I don't want to sign Samuels. My post was more devils advocate than anything else...and I wanted to address this obsession/fetish for the OL/DL offseason. A good secondary is going to be a premium soon enough with the spread offense getting so popular...
