Asante really DOES deserve better...

[QuiGon]

Pay up patriots! Because Asante is going to be cosistently productive for a long long time...

Well if he's going to be productive for a long, long time then what's he worried about..? He'll make even more money in the long run if that turns out to be true.

 

[QuiGon]

im just saying the guy is productive and deserves a long term deal nothing more than that...

With all due respect, to say he deserves "a long term deal" without mentioning any money numbers is pointless. If the Pats offered him 7 years, $14 million that would be a long term deal, wouldn't it...?

 

[patsox23]

The guy is a consistently productive cornerback coming off his best year yet and is a legitimately top cover corner in the league.

N



O



P



E


No way, no how. WRONG.

 

[patsox23]

Remember, Adalius Thomas though he had a fantastic year playing alongside the unhuman skills of Ray Lewis has yet to play a down in a pats uniform yet fans didn't overly questioned the enormous deal the pats gave him.

Adalius Thomas is an all-pro level LB, and has proven himself for more than, say, ONE year. Does he benefit from playing beside Ray Lewis? Sure. And Lewis benefits from playing alongside AD. That's leaving out the reality that Ray Lewis has slowed down a lot the last couple of seasons.

Just stop with this nonsense, Intern. None of us believes you're anything but a PLANT. Your arguments, even couched in friendly, "hey guys, I'm just trying to have a conversation!" terms, isn't fooling ANYONE.

 

[italia44]

With all due respect, to say he deserves "a long term deal" without mentioning any money numbers is pointless. If the Pats offered him 7 years, $14 million that would be a long term deal, wouldn't it...?

We all may be missing something here,

No one knows what the Patriots offer was and we might be overlooking something.

The Pats might be trying to lock-up Asante long-term,for ex:5-7 years with a club option in years 5-7.

Asante and his agent may balk at this because he's
only 26 and they figure that with only a 4-5 yr contract,Asante could hit another FA bonanza at age 30-32.This strategy worked for Ty Law.

This is all speculation,but I suspect the structure of the offer is more of a problem then we realize.

 

[spacecrime]

I have alot of faith in the best front office in the league and hope that after spending a bundle on a slot reciever like Wes Welker, they will shell out the dough to Samuel

So you think he ought to be paid the same as Welker?

Your cousin Asante isn't going to like it when he hears you you just said.

 

[DarrylS]

The guy has one good year, preceded by Mediocre ones, he gets an offer of 7.9 Million.. becomes a malcontent, come back show you are the real thing, then get the big bucks.. in the meantime shut the f... up and play the game... these guys who try to hold the Pats Hostage for big bucks will all loose in the end. If he does not want to sign the tender and continue to negotiate, trade him to some second rate team where he can wallow amongst the fodder.

 

[Fogbuster]

I'd like to know the details of the deal Samual was offered. $7.9 is a nice payday for ANY cb, especially one that has yet to prove he is of shut-down caliber.

Of course, we also have market values that fluctuate, generally rising.

Seems to boil down to how BB and Co. feel: if they feel he's worth the extra dough, if they are comfortable with paying him more, they should. If not, they should not. Although it's a subjective evaluation, the coach's frame of mind toward the situation have an effect on the team as well. BB has proven he can take guys of lesser talents and elevate their play into a solid system. Let him decide.

In the end, players come in two attitudes: those who want the big payday, OR those who want to win the big ones, the last dances. I go for the latter types myself.


//

 

[CrayzeeNepFan1]

I think Assante is a important piece of our team.
Notice that piece is the most important word in that statement he is just one piece of the puzzle that is the best defensive system in all of the NFL.
That being said I am torn is he a one year wonder that wanted to maximize the most money he can as suggested by his blatant get paid tattoo he had inked to be a lifelong fixture of his body.
Why would he take the step to develop his hands with a mini football in his contract year?
Why not all the other years he let interceptions bounce off his fingertips like the playoffs elude Daniel Snyder year in and year out.
It's not a genius idea Gee I can't catch the football maybe if i can practice with a smaller one the bigger one should be easier to snatch.
Assante isn't that simple minded or he wouldn't remain on BB's roster this long if at all.
Maybe last year he did what he's always been able to do but had the motivation and the drive all for the mighty dollar.

OR
Could it possibly be Assante is just picking up steam and in the coming years without a shadow of a doubt his name will come up with Champ Bailey as 1a and 1b as the best complete corner in the league if that is the case we should do what we can to lock him up long term and a comfortable yet fair price tag we all know Kraft is not cheap and just wants to win and fully believes in what BB and Co tell him how to spend his money and to whom.
Assante complains we shelled out money for Adalius Thomas who never took one snap with a flying Elvis logo on his uniform or helped the Patriots reach NFL superiority got a big payday Assante is searching for.
Other players from outside Organizations usually cash in more for other teams, there has to be a hometown discount or sign of loyalty from somewhere!
If Macklin can take a hometown discount to join the redskins then Assante can accept what 80 percent of us on this board could never dream to come close to and be happy that he's on a team that competes every year with the best Coach and Owners in the game and have the chance to watch Class act's like Tom Brady and Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi lead and guide this team every year!
If he doesn't want to be a part of that and wants to cripple our salary cap for years to come and bring down what BB so brilliantly built then trade him for whatever you get and in the 4th round of this draft don't be surprised if we pick up our next cornerback that a few years down the road will have the same impact playing the blueprint the Wizard has concocted for him.


Those are my 2 cents sorry it was so long

GO PATS!

 

[PATSNUTme]

As a huge fan of the Patriots, I am in a tricky situation on this. I want to sit here and pretend that Asante is asking for too much, but lets face the facts. The guy is a consistently productive cornerback coming off his best year yet and is a legitimately top cover corner in the league. I'm not putting him in that "shutdown corner" slot just yet cause he does have a lot to prove still. I think its an insult that the Pats will go out and spend (for once) on guys who haven't proved anything in our system (welker,washington,thomas..etc) but neglect to pay a productive player. With all this being said some players have gotten greedy with the patriots before (Law,Branch, Milloy..etc) and all of them in my opinion, deserved to be cut or traded. Pay up patriots! Because Asante is going to be cosistently productive for a long long time...

He will make close to $8mil by playing this season. I know that he wants a 'long term " contract with a big bonus.

If you are telling the Patriots to pay up, tell us what you think the Patriots should give him.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Samuel's first three years, expressed as "passes defensed," may tell us more than the Sportscenter hilite reel having to do with interceptions. INTs can be game-changing events, but they can also happen for reasons not related to coverage skills. Also, 10 INTs in a season is considered good... so that means you actually "make a play" between once a game and once every two games? No way.

It's really hard to get stats like "did they throw at your side of the field," etc., but even if it wasn't, it wouldn't be reliable, because you have to adjust for who's across from you. You could be great, but play next to Deion Sanders, and voila, everybody throws to your side of the field... that's why I like PDs as an indicator (that's the number of times you break up the play before the receiver gets the ball.) Anyway...

PD

04 12
05 16
06 24

Or, you can look at INTs...

04 1
05 3
06 10

Because of the low frequency of INTs, it looks flukier. But I would say the PD stats look like a developing star, not a fluke.

He's also making a ton of tackles, just like Law use to, 60 last year. Everybody always says a CB making a lot of tackles is a bad thing, because that means someone caught a ball. Well, yeah, pretty much. But when you're not playing press coverage every down, it's expected you will sometimes give up short routes to not get burned on the long ones. Anybody can make the tackle on any play, beyond that... of course, the majority will be a guy tackling his man, after that man caught the ball. So anyway, his tackles have increased from 44 to 60 in the same year in which his INTs increased from 3 to 10. You might just conclude he's trying to make plays sometimes, missing, but keeping his head enough to make the tackle. Maybe that's reading too much in.

Anyway, the point is, he's trending upward in every way you can statistically measure.

Scott Pioli and BB have these statistics, of course. They have miles of game tape. They have intangible memories of being there, and BB has knowledge of skills, points he's worked on, hundreds of practices, etc.

And they came up with a value for him.

Asante has his memories of some moments of glory, some headlines, all those points he worked on, all those hours of practices, and surprise, surprise, with his agent, he's come up with a value for himself.

Then there are items such as deal structure noted above.

It's a matter of whether Pats' Value + intangible wiggling = Asante's self-assessment.

But if it's pure market value? The Pats are 1 of 32 teams. Odds are 32 to 1 against them placing the highest value on Asante. Luckily, it's going to take more than a hair's difference to move most guys... so we would only have to be in the top tier of teams, you would think, in terms of our belief in a given player. Still call it 8 to 1 against.

In other words, take the best deal the market could conceivably give you, and most times that means you leave your original team. "Home Town Discount" is the delta between what your own team pays, and the high offer on the market. If the delta is not significant (say, less than $500K per year,) you may consider sticking for the ring, Asante.

Just one fan's opinion.

PFnV

 

[BradyManny]

Pay up patriots! Because Asante is going to be cosistently productive for a long long time...

If someone is willing to overpay for him, good for them, but why should the Patriots do something stupid like that?

The tag pays him roughly $8 million this season. I don't think he'd go hungry.

 

[Mogamedogz]

Asante should get paid. Bottom line. Doesnt matter if we are willing to pay him or not. If he can get more elsewhere, he should be trying to do it. He HAS to cash in on last season. Who knows if he can reproduce that again.

Anyone here who says they wouldnt be looking to to the same thing in his situation, is Flat out lying.

 

[QuiGon]

We all may be missing something here,

No one knows what the Patriots offer was and we might be overlooking something.

I agree with this 100%. It is tough to determine who is being fair or unfair when we just don't know what has been offered and/or rejected.

The Pats might be trying to lock-up Asante long-term,for ex:5-7 years with a club option in years 5-7.

Well, this is the NFL... every year is a "club option"

 

[DaBruinz]

Remember, Adalius Thomas though he had a fantastic year playing alongside the unhuman skills of Ray Lewis has yet to play a down in a pats uniform yet fans didn't overly questioned the enormous deal the pats gave him. With all that being said, I have alot of faith in the best front office in the league and hope that after spending a bundle on a slot reciever like Wes Welker, they will shell out the dough to Samuel who is only getting better each year.

GO PATS!

Lets look at reality here.

The Pats paid Thomas a a 5 year deal worth just shy of 35 million
The Pats paid Welker a 6 year deal worth 18 million. That is hardly a BUNDLE. And if you think that they over-paid for Welker, take into consideration that he played on a team that had lousy kick return and punt return blocking. Also, they had a huge QB situation, yet Welker led that team in receptions and 50% of his receptions went for 1st downs.

The Pats have tendered Asante with the franchise tag. That guarantees him $7.79 million for this year. That is more than Thomas' average on his contract. Reality is that Samuel has showed progression in getting better in his coverae skills, but his tackling leaves something to be desired. The Pats obviously feel he's a top 5 CB otherwise they wouldn't have franchised him. Just because Asante is complaining doesn't mean that the Patriots offer hasn't been a good one. It just means that they haven't met Asante's expectations. The problem there is that Asante's expectations could be ridiculous. If the Pats offered him a 5 year/$33 Million contract with 16.5 in guarantees, he should tripping over himself to sign on the dotted line because that's more money than most of us see in 5 lifetimes.

 

[solman]

Pay up patriots! Because Asante is going to be cosistently productive for a long long time...

Here is the crux of the problem: You don't know this!

Asante wants to be paid like somebody who will consistently put together great seasons, but he has only had one great season so far.

The Patriots wil not give Asante a long term deal unless it factors in a large discount for the possibility that 2006 was a one of a kind season for him.

To do otherwise would be foolhardy, and that is one thing that the Patriots FO is not.

The other players who are breaking the bank have performed well season after season. Asante has yet to demonstrate any such consistency.

If Asante ever expects the Patriots to pay him like a pro bowl cornerback, he will have to produce that second great season.

 

[TealSox]

Asante needs to calm down and understand what is going on here.

First of all, the Patriots placed a franchise tag on him. That means the Patriots have an exclusive offer on the table to him and have no urgency to negotiate a long term contract. He should be happy that they are even in negotiations with his agent.

Samuel had a great 2006 and has shown bright spots in previous years. Lets not go out and say he is a shut down corner. He is no Clement at this point of his career. Could he be later? Yeah, sure.

And lets not bring up AD Thomas because Thomas is a 3-4 guy that has freakish talent and has played a number of different positions on the field. A number of fans thought he would get more than he got, so his contract was a deal as far as I am concerned.

I admit, I am hesitant to see my team put big money long term into a corner. I remember the years after Law's long term contract and thought the guy wasn't even the same guy that earned the contract. One year he was a shut down corner, the next year QBs were picking him apart and receivers were making him look like a #2. Sure corners have off years, but he seemed to have 2-3 off years on that contract. He ended his Patriot career earning his paycheck, but it was frustrating early on.

 

[Dragda]

A bundle to welker? Please get your facts straight. Asante is acting selfish. He was decent until last year, DECENT. He is NOT worth a huge contract at this point. After his contract year lets see how he does before we throw a cash truck at him. He is coming off like an ******* right now. I hope we can get 2 first rounders for him. No one agrees with you here.

While I don't agree with the original poster, many of us had Samuel rated much higher than "decent." I expect him to be excellent and have a great career. He plays big in big games. He has the numbers AND the intangibles. He is a perfect fit for the Patriots system.

 

[mcbee]

Pats franchising him doesn't mean they "think he's in the top 5". Nothing to do with it.

They franchise him so they can get value if he leaves and they have the rights for him this year for a manageable cap hit if he stays.

They don't OWE him a damn thing.

Trade him for a 1st or 2 2nds.

 

[Iverson]

There are millions of people in the world who "deserve better" than a football player who is making millions of dollars by playing a game.