RealGM

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 12:21 pm**

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/p ... n_week_10/

BOLTON -- The Patriots' lone mandatory offseason minicamp starts today, and disgruntled cornerback Asante Samuel won't be present.

Reached yesterday after he didn't show up to the Patriots Charitable Foundation golf tournament at The International, Samuel reiterated his stance that he is unhappy with the progress of contract negotiations.

"I'm not coming to camp," he said. "I'm not showing up until the 10th week [of the season]. I feel unappreciated. The way they're treating me is just wrong."

Samuel was assigned the franchise tag in February, and since he has not signed the tender, which would guarantee him a one-year, $7.79 million salary, he is technically not under contract and cannot be fined for missing minicamp.

At this point is there anybody that sympathizes with Samuel?

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 5:08 pm**

Well for a guy with a "Get Paid" tatt I'd expect no less. Just trade this whiny bitch.

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 6:09 pm**

Trade his ass. His value's only going to go down anyway.

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 6:58 pm**

**** asante. Trade him.

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 7:34 pm**

I love how, prior to last season, he was considered somewhat of a disappointment, goes out and has one good season then boom, he thinks of himself as a top-10 corner.

He

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 8:57 pm**

I think it's kinda funny how when a team cuts a vet, who has played his heart and soul out for a team, to save cap room, everyone says "well, it's a business, you can't make it personal." But then a guy like Assante decides to hold out, perfectly within the rules, and everyone acts like he ran over their dog. I thought it was just business?

P.S. This isn't directed at anyone in particular, since this board is too new for me to know how people feel when teams cast aside long time players. My point is simply that you can't say it's "just business" when a team pursues its financial well-being at the expense of players, but then act like players are jerks when they do the exact same at the expense of the team.

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 9:37 pm**

captain_cheapseats wrote:I think it's kinda funny how when a team cuts a vet, who has played his heart and soul out for a team, to save cap room, everyone says "well, it's a business, you can't make it personal." But then a guy like Assante decides to hold out, perfectly within the rules, and everyone acts like he ran over their dog. I thought it was just business?

P.S. This isn't directed at anyone in particular, since this board is too new for me to know how people feel when teams cast aside long time players. My point is simply that you can't say it's "just business" when a team pursues its financial well-being at the expense of players, but then act like players are jerks when they do the exact same at the expense of the team.

Samuel is clearly going after a contract he doesn't deserve and is acting like the Patriots are terrible bastards for not giving him it. Using the franchise tag on him is an overpayment in the first place because he's not good enough to warrant top-5 CB money. But since he won't take a more reasonable long-term extension, or take the nice chunk of change that he would get for playing this year (and i'm not convinced he actually would pass up that money), i'm all for trading him to a team that's stupid enough to give him his payday.

Posted: **Tue Jun 5, 2007 10:46 pm**

captain_cheapseats wrote:I think it's kinda funny how when a team cuts a vet, who has played his heart and soul out for a team, to save cap room, everyone says "well, it's a business, you can't make it personal." But then a guy like Assante decides to hold out, perfectly within the rules, and everyone acts like he ran over their dog. I thought it was just business?

Isn't that really just both sides of the same coin, i.e. the team before the individual?

My point is simply that you can't say it's "just business" when a team pursues its financial well-being at the expense of players, but then act like players are jerks when they do the exact same at the expense of the team.

Of course not, but you also can't sympathize with somebody that demands the moon after one season of decent play when the previous four were a disappointment. And, like HC mentioned, the Pats franchise tagged him. He's receiving a guaranteed contract equal to the average of the top-5 players at his position. It's not like he's pissed because he's playing through his rookie contract; he was offered more money than he's realistically worth.

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 2:08 am**

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 1:54 pm**

How can this guy turn down nearly 8 million dollars? What an idiot! Oh well, he's way overrated to begin with.

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 5:11 pm**

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 6:05 pm**

What could we get for asante?

The jets are apparently interested. http://www.realgmfootball.com/src_wiret ... the_money/

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 7:02 pm**

HCYanks wrote:Samuel is clearly going after a contract he doesn't deserve and is acting like the Patriots are terrible bastards for not giving him it. Using the franchise tag on him is an overpayment in the first place because he's not good enough to warrant top-5 CB money. But since he won't take a more reasonable long-term extension, or take the nice chunk of change that he would get for playing this year (and i'm not convinced he actually would pass up that money), i'm all for trading him to a team that's stupid enough to give him his payday.

I think you are underrating him. Judging by the wiretap article, several NFL teams would agree he is worth the money.

Keep in mind we're talking about a guy who has been in the NFL for 4 years, and has (with one exception) improved his performance in every single statistical category, every single season:

Tackles: 34, 36, 54, 64
INTs: 2, 1, 3, 10
Passes Def.: 5, 11, 13, 14

There's a pretty clear trend here; this a young guy who has kept getting better each year he's been in the NFL, and is not some vet who suddenly blows up in a contract year. Also, he doesn't play a position conducive to improving through extra effort like a defensive lineman. It's not like a CB can be like "ok, this is a contract year, so now I'm going to stop getting tricked by double moves."

Also, CB is a position where immediate impact is rarely made, and guys tend to "break out" their 3rd or 4th season. By way of comparison, consider the first 4 seasons of the last good New England CB, Ty Law's, career:

Tackles: 48, 62, 77, 70
INTs: 3, 3, 3, 9
Passes Def.: 6, 6, 8, 23

Of course, CB is a tough position to analyze by stats, the idea is just to provide some objective basis for what I've seen while watching the games. Samuel has gotten better and better every year, and the 2nd half of last season, he was one of the top 5 CBs in the NFL.

EDIT: Come to think of it, can anyone think of a top-flight CB who stopped playing well right after getting a big contract (excluding injuries, of course)? I can think of lots of DLs, but I can't think of a single CB who played into a big contract, and then sucked the next season.

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 7:32 pm**

I don't think that's fair. He's a young guy who has gotten better every year. I think the fact that he is holding out is clouding people's judgment of him.

...

So why do people think Samuel, drafted at the same time and following roughly the same path of steady improvement over 3 seasons, followed by a large break out in his fourth, is going to revert back to the way he was before?

EDIT: Sorry, C_C, I hit the wrong button, sadly editing instead of quoting your post. FWIW, I agree about the Ty Warren part. If you can remember the gist of it, feel free to re-edit. - BBJ

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 8:09 pm**

Basketball Jesus wrote:I don't think that's fair. He's a young guy who has gotten better every year. I think the fact that he is holding out is clouding people's judgment of him.

That

Posted: **Wed Jun 6, 2007 10:50 pm**

we wont miss him. our team is beef'd.

I dont understand some players. do they think this makes them look good ? they hurt themselves leaving money on the table and DONT PLAY. not playing hurts them.

just dont understand it. what about team ? seems alot of players would rather make billions on top of the billions they already make instead of taking fair market value and play for a wining team.

asante needs to proove another year IMO.

Posted: **Thu Jun 7, 2007 7:44 am**

Basketball Jesus wrote:That

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