Face it: What was an exciting, heady offseason for the Patriots [team stats] gave way to a pretty lousy summer. Between injuries (Richard Seymour [stats]), absences (Randy Moss), holdouts (Asante Samuel [stats]) and drug suspensions (Rodney Harrison [stats]), the news was more bad than good throughout August at Gillette Stadium.
Of the above, the Samuel situation was the most avoidable and the most worthy of a big, fat ‘F.’
When franchised Chicago linebacker Lance Brigs re-signed with the Bears before training camp on a re-structured, one-year deal that allowed him to avoid the tag in 2008 if he met a playing-time incentive, it became obvious what the landscape was. Samuel was in line for something similar - not much more and not much less. It was common sense. The fact that it took 31 days for he and the Pats to come to a comparable accommodation is ludicrous.
If the Pats had an incentive-based, opt-out clause like Briggs’ on the table from the beginning, then shame on Samuel for holding out for more. He wasn’t going to get it. But if, on the other hand, the Pats didn’t put the offer on the table until last week, adding a team victory incentive to the mix, then you have to wonder what the club was thinking. Act tough for a month only to break from cherished precedent and give in to the player at the moment of truth? It’s hard to imagine the Pats would cave that badly.
Either way, Samuel got his guaranteed, $7.79 million franchise salary. He got his 2008 opt-out clause. And he got to miss the most unpleasant part of the football year. Not a bad deal for him, but a lousy one for the team. No one knows exactly what transpired at the negotiating table, so it’s hard to assign blame. The bottom line is that a deal that should have taken an hour to figure out took a month. And now Samuel is way behind because of it.
But at least he’s here, which is more than can be said for some others.
