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Only Mike Felger would make this kind of "shoot from the hip, misleading comment, PA. Neither Branch, nor Samuel where elite talents at their positions. Both were "good" players who's value was elevated by playing on those 3 Championship teams. None of them ever matched the same kind of success they had here, and BOTH were signed to vastly overpriced contracts that both their teams almost immediately regretted before they dumped them.I consider Deion Branch and Asante Samuel draftees who performed at a very high level. Made the correct move in both cases. They got overpaid in free market. We end up getting Welker for way less than Branch a year later. Never really replaced Asante. He was overpaid though.
In fact both players were limited. Samuel could never play man, and only thrived in zone D's where he could play hit or miss defense, where he ended up being a player with a lot of picks, but one who also gave up a larger number of big plays. Deion, as much as I loved him as a Patriot, was also a limited player. He too thrived against zone defenses where his quickness and precise route running allowed him to separate from defenders. However when he faced physical man coverage he often disappeared for long periods of time. So as the league moved from playing predominately zone D's to predominately man, his value diminished
Neither deserved the elite level contracts they were seeking and ended up getting, much to the Eagles and Seahawks regret. NOT paying them was clearly the right decision for the Pats, even though it took some time to adequately replace them. However, when it came to paying their truly elite players, you can't name a single one who didn't get paid in their 2nd contracts.