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What Should the Patriots Do?

I really tire when fans call players "greedy" or "selfish," and it's even worse when the local fish-wraps would rather back team management and the owners when it comes to negotiations for fear of losing their spot in the interview pecking order.

Asante Samuel is a player, and the Patriots have no one else to blame for this situation, but themselves. They didn't get the deal done early on, and created the same exact problem they did with Ty Law.

At the end of last season, the New England Patriots should have got the deal with Samuel done before jumping into the free agent pool. Everyone knew CBs were going to be a hot commodity this upcoming season, and it was even more of an importance with teams having extra cap money floating around.

Instead, the Pats played hardball and allowed CB Nate Clements to be signed before Samuel. A move, which I had said long before the season ended, should not happen as it did with Ty Law. By letting Clements get signed before Samuel it set the tone for the CB market.

Samuel is an NFLPA (Union) player, and there is no way he is going to sign for less than what Clement's got or he would be screwing the rest of the CBs that were due new contracts. The Pats should have signed Samuel, and set the tone for the CB market instead of allowing the market to be set and giving Samuel's agent a gauge to measure and use in his negotiations.

The matter only got worse once Dre Bly got his money from Denver making this situation like deja vu all over again. For those who don't remember, the Pats dragged their heels on Law, who had taken a pay cut the year before making John Lynch the highest paid, with Ty getting a promise he would get his money on the back end of his contract.

The Pats made a disgrace of the deal by offering a BS signing bonus, and it blew up in their face when Champ Bailey got signed before Law. Ty was the better player that year, but Bailey's signing ended up setting the tone for the market.

Now for those who still don't understand, let me break it down from an overall perspective and put yourself in Asante's position.

You work for a company (NFL), and you are employed in one of their many offices (New England) throughout the nation. Your job is union, and their are certain union rules to follow and abide by to protect your fellow union brother/sister.

The end of the year has come and the company is having their divisions hand out new contracts with bonuses to their best workers, and you find out that two employees form the same company that did the same job as you has gotten substantial pay raises yet you did the job better then both of them.

Shouldn't you get paid the same if not slightly more than them? I'm sure your union rep is going to tell you that you should, and they are going to make sure you don't go "corporate" and low ball yourself also screwing up the market value for those in the same position as yourself.

Asante should have been paid. This guy had a monster year for 2006 after beginning to emerge in 2005 while showing glimpses of talent when he took over after Law went down in 2004 during the Steelers game. Asante has also learned from one of the best in the game, and if people can't see that then they truly don't know football.

Now there are some who are using other players as a gauge, and may have some valid points, but it still comes down to economics...

Is he in the same class as Champ Bailey? Champ Bailey had 17 INTs and Nate Clements had 18 INTs in their first four years in the league. Asante has 16 so he is on pace to being one of the best in the league. As for those saying he's not a top ten corner is BS, he tied with Bailey in 2006 for INT's, and proved himself to be a threat. Most CB's average 3-6 INT's per season, and with two full seasons under his belt Asante is headed that route.

How much should they pay  him? If I had to be the one making the offer I would have gotten the deal done once I knew Clements was hitting the market, but that didn't happen so I guess we must talk about the present. I would tender an offer that would be slightly more than Bly's since it is an extension and not a free agent signing, but it would also be incentive laden. As the agent you would have to work in a "shutdown" clause or a "bonus" in case teams don't throw his way. This is where bad agents are made... Not realizing all of the loopholes.

Being the shutdown corner that he is... Champ had less balls thrown in his direction right? How can we say that? Champ defended 11 passes this year and 15 the year before. Asante defended 14 in '06 and 13 in '05. I do agree Champ is a shutdown corner, and after this past season and playoffs if Asante stays here in this system he could benefit from the same . A corner's skill should be based on overall performance, and you can't measure Asante to Champ in this debate. IMO Asante's agent isn't using Champ's stats in his negotiations. If Asante stays here in this system he should be a shutdown corner, but as I said... You can't compare his contract issues with Champ Bailey. Champ has already been signed (his situation was for the Ty Law debate), it's Nate Clements' (80 mil over 8 yrs with 22 mil guaranteed) and Dre Bly's (33 mil over 5 yrs with 16 mil guaranteed) contracts that are setting the tone for the CB market right now, and I'm sure Champ and his agent are sitting back, watching and waiting to see what Asante gets because that will set the tone for his upcoming negotiations.

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