SamBamsFan

Asante wants the money. It's OK to say that as he has certainly outperformed his rookie contract as a 4th round pick. The current cost of franchising Asante would be $7.79M. Before people start saying that this is out of the Patriots Braintrusts range based on their value system, I wanted to show you something:

$7.79M/ $109M = 7.15% of the total value of the Pats '07 cap (or about 1 out of every 14 cap dollars).

Ty Law '04
$10.2M/ $79.24M = 12.88% of available cap
'03
$8.8M/ $74.61M = 11.8% of available cap
'02
$4.55M/ $71.1M = 6.4% of available cap

It was a contract that B/P inherited from the previous administration granted, but they did honor it for the next four years because of Ty Laws monetary value fit within their respective Patriot values. I'd love some comments on this, Graham, and other prospective free agents...

A plug to Miguel's page for these #'s- www.patscap.com

everlong

I think they will franchise him if they cannot sign him and pay him the $7.79 for one year if they cannot trade him. The question is what will it take to sign him to a long term contract and do the Pats put enough value on him to do so.

If Samuel would take a 4/32 with a 10M bonus are the Pats willing to pay him that much? I'm not sure they are and he can probably get more than that elsewhere and we all know he wants top coin.

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"When Peyton Manning was a kid he used to go to bed at night and dream about throwing the winning touchdown for the Saints in the Superbowl. And on Sunday he did."

There's only two conclusions for Patriots fans on rookies. They are either a bust or being fitted for their bust in Canton.


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BelichickFan

Right, actually having him play under the Franchise Tag is possible but, IMO, unlikely. When (not if, hopefully) we tag him it should generate a little more incentive to discuss a long term deal or we can trade him. He wants a long term deal - just like Branch.

wdkantro2

I don't think they will franchise him. As Reiss has been saying for awhile now, if they give Asante the 7.9 Mil, that will be about 17 million between him and Brady, almost 10% of the total cap, which completely goes against the Pats theory of spreading money out to multiple players.

Also, they were willing to give Ty Law all that money because he was a leader, it was pre-dynasty (hadn't finished cleaning up the cap problems yet) and he was a true, lock down #1 corner. Asante had a bunch of interceptions, but I guarantee you Peyton Manning fears Law a lot more than Asante.

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BelichickFan

The Franchise Tag is about control. He won't sign it until he sees if there's a good long term deal to be made elsewhere. That's why Branch said he'd play 2006 here if we promised not to Franchise him. If players wanted a big one year salary they'd happily be Franchised. They don't, they want the long term deal with the big signing bonus. The tag buys time and control.

Michigan Dave

Asante is much more than just a bunch of interceptions. He is a true lockdown corner, and is approaching the top 3 in the league.

Pay Asante.

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everlong

They are franchising him to keep him under their control. I think him playing the one year under the franchise is highly unlikely.

I would put the odds now as

65% Franchise and trade
25% long term deal
10% one year franchise contract

The one year may be even lower than 10% when you consider all the teams with cap space and how Deion shot his way out of town. Samuel will sit out IMO before doing the one year.

__________________
"When Peyton Manning was a kid he used to go to bed at night and dream about throwing the winning touchdown for the Saints in the Superbowl. And on Sunday he did."

There's only two conclusions for Patriots fans on rookies. They are either a bust or being fitted for their bust in Canton.


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wdkantro2

Have you watched every game this year before making that claim? I can think of multiple occasions where he looked horrid in coverage, and the opposing QB had no trouble picking on him.

A true lockdown corner knows how to play press coverage too.

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Michigan Dave

Yes. I have watched every game for several years. And I am not alone in that thought. He stepped it up this year. He's doing almost everything you can ask a #1 corner to do. He is fundamentally strong, and has an eye for the ball.

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wdkantro2

I'm not saying he is a bad corner. I think they should pay him, but they shouldn't pay him top 3 money. He is still extremely succeptible (sp?) to the double move, even when he gives his patented 10 yards of cushion. He very well could have cost us the Chargers game when he got torched by Vincent Jackson (who is slow as hell!) on a double move, but Jackson couldn't get his second foot down. He has also had times that showed he is not a sure tackler (Mo Drew bouncing off a pathetic Asante tackle attempt). Lastly, why did we beat the Colts in 03 and the Rams in 01? Because Law mugged the crap out of the receivers. Asante just can't do that. He has great instincts for the ball and for breaking up plays, but he just doesn't bring everything to the table that I believe is required of a true #1 to be paid like one.

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