Top CB's are. Thomas is a two time and should have been 3 time pro bowler. Asante is a one year wonder who also played well on a superbowl championship team in 2004 that had an outstanding front 7 and a healthy Rodney Harrison and disappeared on it's struggling defense in 2005. In fact Asante is really only a half season wonder. Hobbs won the LCB position in camp last year and Asante didn't get it back until Hobbs was injured. Half of his regular season INTS came off the dynamic duo of Culpepper and Grossman. 7 of his 10 INTS in the regular season came after Thanksgiving. Back then they were offering him $7.5M in guarantees, so they came up substantially in light of his performance down the stretch and the market.
I think if Belichick thought he was a (stand alone) top corner he'd have either offered him more or just traded him to a team willing to carry top corner compensation on their cap. I think they think he's a very good corner in/for this system. Which is all this system calls for. Good corners aren't paid more than top LB's in this system. And besides, he's looking for top DE money, apparently. Good corners don't make more than them in this system either.
Asante has a real chip on his shoulder and that's too bad. This organization has done at least as much for him as he has for them. Unfortunately in the process they may have created a monster.
I dont agree with the one year wonder characterization, but even if it were true, who really cares? He is what he has grown into. Would you pay more for a guy who was better earlier in his career but is now behind what samuel has grown into? You are paying for his future not his past.
I'm not sure why you feel he has a chip on his shoulder. He believes he is so good that he should be paid a certain amount of money, and its more than the Patriots are offering. That isn't a chip on his shoulder, that is a difference of opinion.
He is taking what action is available to him in a case like this.
He was franchised. He tried to negotiate a long term deal.
Now he must play under the tag or refuse to.
That is the system.
Would you feel that anyone who feels they are underpaid (and there are millions of Americans who do) has a chip on their shoulder? Even if they are correct that they are underpaid? Even if they are wrong they are underpaid, and they search for a new job what is wrong with that?
People change jobs every day. People feel eunderappreciated by their employers every day. You seem to be tying a negative character trait to anyone who doesnt shut up, accept whatever they are offered, and say thank you. That isn't what America was built on.
I have no clue about what the organization did for him, or he did for them, but it appears they have both held up their end of the bargain.
He showed up. He got his paychecks. He did his job. He was trained and coached.
What exactly did the Patriots do for him over and above what an employer is supposed to do?
If your employer had a system where after 4 years of employment you either agreed to a new pay scale or were paid the average of the top 10% of people in your position in your field, and told you they would
1) Negotiate a deal with you
2) Pay you that average of the 10% for a year
3) You could stop showing up for work nad not get paid
and you didn't agree that what they were offering long term was fair, and didn't want to waste a year waiting to decide your long term future, what do you do?
Would I be allowed to criticize you and characterize you as a jerk with a chip on your shoulder if I didn't like our decision?
I think we just get too carried away here with assigning value systems to people we know nothing about because we are upset about how their needs fit into the needs of the team we root for.
If Asante was the chef at your favorite restaurant and going through a contract dispute like this, would you judge his morals based on whether he wanted to accept what they offered and shut up, or whether he would go to another restaurant that paid him more?
