Can we stop with the "he's only had one good year!" complaints?
If by "good year" you mean pro-bowl level, how many, exactly, did you expect him to have at this point in his career.
*His rookie year, he worked his way into nickel formations, and played well there.
*His 2nd year, he was thrown into the fire when Samuel + Poole went down, and played very well, if not outstandingly, during his first stint as an outside CB.
*In his 3rd year, he struggled some at first... as did every member of the 2005 Patriots' defense. Then, as the secondary was stabilized and we found a front-7 combo that worked, both Samuel and Hobbs really came on down the stretch, and in playoffs -- Samuel, in particular, had an impressive post-season, icing the WC game against the Jags with a pick-6, making an athletic INT vs. the Broncos, giving up only one completion of more than 3 yards, and breaking up a handful of passes, including a perfectly covered bomb to Lelie that was, through no fault of Samuel's, called interference.
*Then we come to his fourth year. It's easy to write off the accolades he received as just being due to his INT total, but that's totally off-base. Asante Samuel allowed only 4.7 yards per pass thrown his way in 2006, which was lower than ANY other starting CB. Over the course of the year, his coverage got tighter, and tighter, and the risks he was known for taking became more and more calculated.
If you look at Samuel's career, and any year within it, the only consistent pattern is one of STEADY IMPROVEMENT. Sure, he didn't have his "break-out" year until '06... but he's not the first Pats CB wait until season 4 to hit his stride: Ty Law had his first pro bowl caliber season in '98, four years into his career.
Now, I'm not trying to put Samuel in the same category as Champ Bailey or a Young Ty Law -- but anyone who wants to argue that he's "only had one good year" better be prepared to point out a year in which he failed to meet expectations for a player of his tenure in that year.