Asante Samuel: Quiet on the contract

At the end of the 2006 season, the biggest question for the Patriots management was if they would use the franchise tag and if so would it be used on cornerback Asante Samuel††or on tight end Daniel Graham.†
The Patriots chose to franchiseSamuel which comes with a minimum of $7.79 million guaranteed for a one-year deal.
In 2006, Samuel played a larger role in the Patriots secondary then most people imagined entering the season.† All eyes were on†Ellis Hobbs†and if he would improve on his rookie season.† A few weeks into the season Hobbs suffered a broken wrist and missed a†game against the Bengals, but came back after the bye-week to fill in before returning as a starter.
Since†that point,†Samuel became the on-field leader for the cornerbacks which was targeted as suspect and suddenly under fire by rivals.
Samuel went on to have the best season in his career with 64 tackles and 10 interceptions for 120-yards.† Samuel admitted he has taken more time studying film and the breakdown of players and obviously it paid off.
Clearly it did as during his highlights during the playoffs, Samuel had an interception returning it for a touchdown versus the Jets and†versus the†Colts, Samuel had 2 passes defensed and another interception returned for a touchdown.
Earlier in the month, afew fans believed Samuel was a bit upset with the franchise tag and although shortly after the announcement Asante’s agent Alonzo Shavers said, “ìWe donít look at it as a bad thing.† This is a step in the process in working toward a long-term deal.î† However, the player with the ‘GET PAID’ tatoo still has no contract.
Overall, I think the Patriots learned from the Deion Branch debacle last year.† With current issues in Chicago with linebacker Lance Briggs threatening to hold out if not traded, the situation in New England seems to be better, but†Patriot Nation is still wary.
Since Samuel was franchised there has been big†news about contracts†and the biggest news has been†the 8-year, $80 million contract with $22 millions guaranteed sign by cornerback†Nate Clemens with the San Francisco 49ers.
Luckily, none of the 2007†franchised players have agreed to a contract yet this year.† This means we have plenty of time before training camp begins to do a couple of things… and hopefully before things turn ugly…
In the end the reality is one of the following scenarios:

• Samuel agrees and signs a long term contract
• Samuel plays one-year under the franchise tag
• Patriots trade Samuel to another team for draft picks
• Patriots and Samuel do not agree and holds out and hinders the team trading for decent picks

To be fair, Samuel has tried to dispel rumors that he is unhappy, as he recently said in an interview (as detailed by Albert Breer, of†the MetroWest Daily News, in the†Boston Herald),††ìIím not going to talk too much about (the negotiations), but theyíre happy, Iím happy, so everybody else should be happy too.î
Samuel went on to say ìThis is my (professional) birthplace.† This is my first team and I hope Iíll never have to play for another team.î
The fear the situation could turn worse and again the Patriots are faced with another player hold-out (which would make the 3rd in as many years) is still valid, as when asked if hold out would not happen he responded, ìLike I said, everythingís looking good,î†after briefly pausing to consider the question. ìWeíll have to see what happens.î†
Patriot Nation should be patient and keep the faith!† In Bill we Trust!
We know the Patriots will not pay Samuel the Nate Clemens†kind of money, but it may not be the the cap-friendly the new free agents have recently been signing with the Patriots as well.
Even if the Patriots sign Samuel to a long term deal, I would not be surprised to see one or two cornerbacks taken in the draft to add youth and depth to a crew that has seen far too often guys taken from the street to play in the playoffs.
Players signed so far through free agency: Adalius Thomas (5-yrs $37.5m – $18m garateed), Donte’ Stallworth (6-yrs $33m), Kelley Washington (5-yrs $22m),†Wes Welker (5-yrs $18.1m),†Kyle Brady (2-yrs $5.3m), Sam Morris (4-yrs $7m) and Eddie Jackson (2-yrs $1.1m).
The Patriots also did a good job re-signing productive players such as Heath Evans (2-yrs $1.56m), Larry Izzo (1-yr $820k), Bam Childress (1-yr $360k), Rashad Baker†(2-yrs $1.1m), Mike Wright (1-yr exclusive rights) and†Corey Mays (1-yr exclusive rights), whereas†terms are still not known for†Gene Mruczkowski.