Will Samuel return... or not?

[Snarf]

I think the Pats ought to treat him like Brady/Seymour, and pay up. Show him the money, let him come back and be a shutdown corner next year.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Say goodbye Assante, that is if we dont franchise him..

 

[All_Around_Brown]

NOT

This guy has played well in his contract year but he is NOT Champ Bailey and never will be.

My guess is that hes a Jet next season.

 

[chunkypony]

I think he overachieved a lot this season, and was playing well even when over his head in the playoffs. He will make some big bucks elsewhere, my only hope is that we franchise and trade him so that we get something in return.

 

[patriotspride]

look for another messy contract battle .asante isnt going to like being franchised

 

[skaIownsIyou]

he's really really starting to pull his weight, along with hobbs...the jets tested samuel and utterly failed to pass successfully against him....the chargers saw that, and worked on hobbs, hobbs was good in the chargers game....then came peyton and harrison/wayne....the best qb, arguebly, and the best wide outs on the game today....both hobbs and samuel stepped up and forced manning to throw it to clark and morehead....hobbs even covered morehead very well....

one thing i'm really excited about, in terms of offseason resigning...TBC....did you see him beat glenn and the other te's to get to manning?

i saw him blitz about 3 or 4 times specifically, in the 3rd quarter, he got to manning 2 times....but then again i guess you could say, the oline were tired b/c manning had the no huddle going for a while and TBC was on the sidelines while vrabel was back outside....with alexander/bruschi on ILB...

if the pats shoudl resign anyone this offseason, i'd say TBC and samuel should be at the top of the list

 

[p8ryts]

I believe we will franchise him and he will sign a substantial contract. If he wants to extract the last possible dollar then we will have another Deion situation. Could end up a trade scenario like Tebucky to NO.

I would like to keep him. The difference with the Ty Law situation is age and health, Asante is younger than Ty was at the time and Ty was injured. Anyway that's why I think we will try hard to keep him.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I think Asante showed a LOT this season, and grew up a lot. He's not Champ Bailey though.

As always, the Pats will set a value for him to this team. He will be free to examine his value in the eyes of other teams (if he is not franchised.)

I would love if his value to us is higher than his value to others. But those with severely depleted secondaries -- yes, worse than ours -- will be willing to buy higher.

You have to factor in his potential, though. I think the Pats can do that much more realistically without contending with the "perceived value" of Super Bowl heroics. Call it a "silver lining."

PFnV

 

[Krugman]

I would like to see them sign him,what kind of money is he looking at in the FA market,realistically?

 

[BlitzFritz]

no brainer -- Franchise Him.

 

[pats60]

Whats this about he`s no Champ Bailey there is only one of him.
He is a young Ty Law .Law wasnt`t as good as him in his early years.

 

[everlong]

If they franchise him it'll cost them around 7-8M for the one year. If he wants that per season it won't happen but I can see them trading him for a #1 pick if they cannot get a long term deal done.

 

[JackBauer]

This guy has played well in his contract year but he is NOT Champ Bailey and never will be.

This is one of the lamest arguments going around. Just who IS Champ Bailey, then?

 

[PatsFanInVa]

You know what? I'm with you guys. Saying he's "no Champ Bailey" is using shorthand that's just way too potentially incendiary.

He's good, and last night he was great. But he's not consistently great, and has had quite a few crap games especially prior to his contract season.

He is, however, good.

That's what people mean when they say "he's good, but he's no Champ Bailey," using the Bailey name as the shorthand for the iconic "cover corner" concept.

Now the fact that Bailey is no Deion Sanders, etc. etc., is not that important.

What's important is whether the Pats place Samuel's value at a range that Samuel (and his agent) will accept.

And that process will not be a blank-check policy, on the part of the Pats. He's good, but he's not one of those guys that come along every 10 years -- the comparison to Law sort of confirms that. Brady and Seymour are.

I guess this could even be put this way: Samuel is good raw material, given a chance, and good coaching. So he's turned into a good NFL player. Greatness may or may not be in his future.

The Pats will pay him to an extent for that future potential. There are some desperate cases around the league that will pay as if it is a fact now.

I don't think last season, for example, he was top-flight quality. At certain points this season (IIRC,) he still got torched.

He's good, and has an enticing upward trendline. Make the offer accordingly, would be my advice, not "write a blank check."

PFnV

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

the Patriots paid Brady and Seymour because they are amongst the top 3 players at their positions in all of football. They're the type of guys who cannot be replaced.

Asante falls somewhere in the 5-15 bracket of corners based on this year. Those guys, while valuable, are not irreplaceable.

When you start paying good-but-not-great guys money as if they're great that is when you start running out of money with which to fill out your roster or, even worse, pay great players.

Let's say Ty Warren's year was not an aberration, and he will continue to blossom into a top 5 defensive lineman. I'd much rather give him a big payday than Asante. Vince Wilfork is looking really good and NTs aren't very easy to come by, I'd probably rather give him a big payday than Asante. You can only afford to have so many guys making 7M+ on your roster.

My biggest concern about Asante is that if you give him a big multiyear deal you're looking at 1 year and trusting that he can keep it up. It isn't like he's had 3 good years or anything.

The way to go is to franchise him. You can pay him the franchise cost for 1 year to see if he can keep it up and then sign him to an extension. More likely you franchise him and then trade him, letting someone else pay him big bucks for his big year and get a pick or two in the process.

The same things that make Asante more expensive than he's worth (big INT #s, overvalued nature of cornerbacks) make him a valuable trade commodity. It just takes one team willing to make a stupid trade. Hmm, the Redskins love big acquisitions and don't value draft picks. Maybe you just sit back and wait for them to call.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Yeah Goat, but... doesn't the heart tell you, you want to watch him in Silver and Blue, and I don't mean the Cowboys?

Totally agree with you by the way... though I would like the unimaginable to happen, i.e., Samuel saying "screw it, let's see if we can turn up another ring."

The reason that's so valuable is it so seldom happens... so it's a pipe dream. We'll see. He might get an offer he can accept, but I doubt he'll get one he can't refuse.

PFnV

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

Yeah Goat, but... doesn't the heart tell you, you want to watch him in Silver and Blue, and I don't mean the Cowboys?

Totally agree with you by the way... though I would like the unimaginable to happen, i.e., Samuel saying "screw it, let's see if we can turn up another ring."

The reason that's so valuable is it so seldom happens... so it's a pipe dream. We'll see. He might get an offer he can accept, but I doubt he'll get one he can't refuse.

PFnV

eh, I'd much rather see Asante in the Burgundy and Gold next year. I don't really have any attachment to him and the Skins always get screwed in trades.

Asante recently got a tattoo which says "Get Paid." I think you picked the wrong guy for your pipe dream. I can't begrudge a guy who wants to get as much money as he can, I just wish them luck on the way out (unless he pulls a stunt like the Twig, then he's dead to me).

 

[PatsFanInVa]

eh, I'd much rather see Asante in the Burgundy and Gold next year. I don't really have any attachment to him and the Skins always get screwed in trades.

Asante recently got a tattoo which says "Get Paid." I think you picked the wrong guy for your pipe dream. I can't begrudge a guy who wants to get as much money as he can, I just wish them luck on the way out (unless he pulls a stunt like the Twig, then he's dead to me).

Well, if that's gospel truth, doesn't look likely he'll be a Patriot, end of story. And Belichick and Pioli can get drunk and get matching "Redskins First Round" tattoos. I'll keep the pipedream 'til the ink is dry (on the contract, not on Samuel.)

What "stunt" put Deion in your doghouse for all time?

 

[upstater1]

I think a top flight corner is much more difficult to find than a top flight DE.

 

[BlitzFritz]

The way to go is to franchise him. You can pay him the franchise cost for 1 year to see if he can keep it up and then sign him to an extension. More likely you franchise him and then trade him, letting someone else pay him big bucks for his big year and get a pick or two in the process.

QUOTE]

That's right. He's a top5-10 corner. Lets get another great year out of him at inflated prices, but we wont be able to settle with an acceptable long term dealio