Samuel signs monster-deal with Philly - Page 2

Jay · 02-29-2008, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geo

I just hope they don't trade Sheppard to the Pats, but I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that they might/will.

Don't think for a second the Pats aren't going to cry foul. I don't think they had any intention of signing him to close to that kind of money, but I can guarantee they were pissed that people were talking to their player while he was still their property. If a little handshake deal was made where they gave permission to the Eagles as part of a Lito Sheppard trade, then I am cool with it. But if that's that, I don't see how this is fair to the Patriots or any other team that followed the rules and planned on getting involved.

And for the record, I think people should be just as pissed about what the Dolphins and 49ers were doing actually announcing deals a quarter after midnight and basically acting like high school seniors trying to show off to everyone that they are drinking beer. I am in shock at all of the tampering going on and just how OK everyone seems to think it is.

toonsterwu · 02-29-2008, 11:27 AM

Jay - While tampering may have existed, the fact that the Eagles didn't announce it right after the clock struck will be to their benefit.

Furthermore, after such a tumultuous year, I doubt the Patriots really want to be wading into those waters. Let's be realistic. Everyone tampers. I'm sure there's some team in the past that probably has evidence of tampering on the Pats. You don't want to walk into those waters, and have teams gunning after you for all the wrong reasons. These are still people after all, people that could hold grudges.

I don't expect the Pats to cry foul. They were expecting Asante to be gone.

portermvp84 · 02-29-2008, 11:38 AM

I'd keep Shepard, him and Samuel are a sick duo.

drowe · 02-29-2008, 11:42 AM

my thought on the tampering thing is; who cares!? really, the NFL can't control who talks to who. unless they want to starting bugging phones and spying teams are always gonna pull stuff like this. it's just always gonna be one of those rules that's around, but not enforced. all sports have 'em.
basketball has travelling
baseball has 'roids
hockey..well, not sure, but there's probably something in the rule book about not beating the crap out of somebody in the middle of a game.

02-29-2008, 11:44 AM

I personally think Samuel is extremely over-rated.

He is a descent zone-coverage corner, but man-man he struggles.

He is inconsistent, and his biggest strength in my opinion is his field awareness, which could easily be a product of Bellichick's game-planning and instruction.

I also see Samuel as a guy who won't work as hard now that he is paid. I think you'll see Samuel turn into an above average corner next year, and this deal will hurt the Eagles significantly down the stretch.

bearsfan_51 · 02-29-2008, 11:45 AM

Yeah I could care less about tampering. I'm not even sure what it matters. It probably helps the team to know the market for their players so they can decide how long they want to concentrate on resigning them and when to allocate recourses time elsewhere.

Matthew Jones · 02-29-2008, 11:45 AM

I'm kind of glad the Patriots didn't pony up that kind of money to keep Samuel, even though he's been such a playmaker for us.

portermvp84 · 02-29-2008, 11:48 AM

This signing really puts Philly on the map. If they get all the tools in place they could be dangerous.

Geo · 02-29-2008, 12:00 PM

Samuel isn't shutdown, but he's a playmaking corner who does a pretty good job defending his man. Over the last two regular seasons, he's accounted for 16 INTs and 32 pass deflections. Include the postseasons, and it's 19 INTs and 43 PDs over the last two years, and he's missed only one game. Very quick guy.

I think Philly is a great fit for him, they play an aggressive scheme that mixes up man and zone coverage which suits his versatility.

49ersfan_87 · 02-29-2008, 12:07 PM

Why would the Eagles sign the top corner on the market after having 2 solid corners in Sheppard and Brown?

Not that i dont like the move. The 95 million is obviously fluff, the guaranteed money is what matters. But i didnt think the Eagles had such a need at corner that they had to spend that kind of guaranteed money on it...

Flyboy · 02-29-2008, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geo

Samuel isn't shutdown, but he's a playmaking corner who does a pretty good job defending his man. Over the last two regular seasons, he's accounted for 16 INTs and 32 pass deflections. Include the postseasons, and it's 19 INTs and 43 PDs over the last two years, and he's missed only one game. Very quick guy.

I think Philly is a great fit for him, they play an aggressive scheme that mixes up man and zone coverage which suits his versatility.

I definitely thinks he fits Philly's scheme more than he does New Orleans. I'm relieved.

Sniper · 02-29-2008, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 49ersfan_87

Why would the Eagles sign the top corner on the market after having 2 solid corners in Sheppard and Brown?

Not that i dont like the move. The 95 million is obviously fluff, the guaranteed money is what matters. But i didnt think the Eagles had such a need at corner that they had to spend that kind of guaranteed money on it...

A) One of the two is always hurt. If it's not one, it's the other.
B) Brown could move to S, or at least play nickel.

Paranoidmoonduck · 02-29-2008, 12:27 PM

Dear Lord, Asomugha is going to cost 100 million.

BigBlueCrew56 · 02-29-2008, 12:35 PM

Ohhh snap my boy is RICH!!!! I played high school baseball with him and now he is making some major bucks. Boyd Anderson represent WOW!

Mr. Stiller · 02-29-2008, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay

Don't think for a second the Pats aren't going to cry foul. I don't think they had any intention of signing him to close to that kind of money, but I can guarantee they were pissed that people were talking to their player while he was still their property. If a little handshake deal was made where they gave permission to the Eagles as part of a Lito Sheppard trade, then I am cool with it. But if that's that, I don't see how this is fair to the Patriots or any other team that followed the rules and planned on getting involved.

And for the record, I think people should be just as pissed about what the Dolphins and 49ers were doing actually announcing deals a quarter after midnight and basically acting like high school seniors trying to show off to everyone that they are drinking beer. I am in shock at all of the tampering going on and just how OK everyone seems to think it is.

He was signed about 12 hours+ after the start of FA. They have nothing to complain about as usual.

Though the 49ers and Dolphins having guys contracts announced merely minutes after the fact.. I could see.

49ersfan_87 · 02-29-2008, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Stiller

He was signed about 12 hours+ after the start of FA. They have nothing to complain about as usual.

Though the 49ers and Dolphins having guys contracts announced merely minutes after the fact.. I could see.

Deshan Foster and Allen Rossum were released from their teams. The 49ers wouldn't have to wait for today to contact them.

If the 49ers were accused of tampering it would be for O'sullivan and Thomas. And they didn't sign the contracts- just agreed to them. No signing yet.

Jay · 02-29-2008, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toonsterwu

Jay - While tampering may have existed, the fact that the Eagles didn't announce it right after the clock struck will be to their benefit.

Furthermore, after such a tumultuous year, I doubt the Patriots really want to be wading into those waters. Let's be realistic. Everyone tampers. I'm sure there's some team in the past that probably has evidence of tampering on the Pats. You don't want to walk into those waters, and have teams gunning after you for all the wrong reasons. These are still people after all, people that could hold grudges.

I don't expect the Pats to cry foul. They were expecting Asante to be gone.

Everyone does a lot of things that other teams don't think is a big deal. It didn't stop the Jets from crying foul on the Pats for a video camera or the Vikings for crying foul on Belichick over the Garrett Mills situation.

In this case, it is pretty easy to prove tampering because Asante's agent has a really big mouth.

That's why I am saying it would make sense if the Patriots were getting a discount on Lito Sheppard via trade in return for them allowing the Eagles to very blatantly bring their guy in for the dog and pony show that fast and before anyone else could really lock anything down.

And if any team is going to file a grievence over tampering, it is going to be the Patriots. They did it over Parcells, they did it over Martin and they did it over Branch. Granted, that was all the Jets, but they got a ton of draft picks over two out of those three, and I just don't think it will sit well with Bob Kraft that his team gets penalized for breaking rules (as they should have) and others are not.

We'll see. I have no doubt that I have a huge chance of being completely wrong about what will happen. Doesn't make it right, though...

Turtlepower · 02-29-2008, 12:53 PM

Jay, why does tampering matter when you know as well as all of us do that the Pats were not going to match the Eagles offer?

Jay · 02-29-2008, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Stiller

He was signed about 12 hours+ after the start of FA. They have nothing to complain about as usual.

And they had a press release out at the start of business this morning letting all media outlets know that Astante "will be made available to the media at 4:30 p.m. EST."

How many visiting free agents have scheduled press conferences before they move on to the next stop on the tour? None that I've heard of.

We all know this deal was not done today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 49ersfan_87

If the 49ers were accused of tampering it would be for O'sullivan and Thomas. And they didn't sign the contracts- just agreed to them. No signing yet.

That's exactly who I am talking about in the 49ers case...

bsaza2358 · 02-29-2008, 12:57 PM

Seems to be a done deal. Not as big as people were saying:

5 years, $47.2mm.

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn...c.php?t=365654

02-29-2008, 12:57 PM

New Numbers coming in....

5 years --- 47.2 Million

9.5 Million/year

bsaza2358 · 02-29-2008, 12:59 PM

Yes. See my post above.

Jay · 02-29-2008, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtlepower

Jay, why does tampering matter when you know as well as all of us do that the Pats were not going to match the Eagles offer?

Why wouldn't I care? One of the most important parts of our defense is GONE. The whole purpose of having exclusive negotiating rights is to have the ability to work a deal out without having to compete. If the Patriots came to Asante and said "you know what, here's 7 years and 80 million with 23 guaranteed," he might have done it. But with little birdies whispering in his ear what he would get on the open market, there was no shot.

I think the Patriots wanted to keep him at a reasonable price, but with all these other teams getting involved when they had absolutely no right to be doing so, that went right out the window. And they had the money to do it. That is not even the issue.

Theo Epstein can't even say the name of another teams player in context of his team acquiring them without fear of a fine or other penalty. I just don't understand how we can pick and choose the rules that are OK to break. Especially considering the moral high ground people try to stand on when it involves other rules...

Sveen · 02-29-2008, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay

I just don't understand how we can pick and choose the rules that are OK to break. Especially considering the moral high ground people try to stand on when it involves other rules...

You make a great point right there. Everyone has to follow all the rules (or get punished), or else the credibility of the NFL just goes down the drain.

bsaza2358 · 02-29-2008, 01:03 PM

Jay, I think a lot of what happened was that his agent went to teams and explained what it would take to get Asante. Then he talked to Asante and had him list the teams he wanted to go to. Based on how the teams reacted to the contract demand and what the client wanted, the agent scheduled the visit. The Pats knew what it would take to sign Samuel long term, and they chose not to do it.

This kind of stuff is part of life. Even if there were no overt moves, there are always back channel things going on. It is part of life. The Pats have done things like that, and so have every other team.