Free Agent Focu$: A$ante $amuel
Position: CB
Height: 5-10
Weight: 185
College: UCF
Years Pro / Age: 5 / 27
Overview: Samuel took the tag last year, but on the condition that he couldn’t be tagged again. The Patriots have followed through and been unable to sign the player on a deal long-term, and Asante is primed to hit the market in a few days. Champ Bailey recently stated that he hopes the young player with the tattoo “GET PAID” does just that and he’s easily one of the top five free agents available this offseason whether or not you believe the hype. The Jets have indicated an interest in the league’s most coveted corner this offseason, but is the interest genuine, or merely a ploy to raise his profile and price tag for the Patriots? Samuel has intercepted 16 balls in the past two seasons, but questions dog the player as to his true shutdown abilities wondering if he — like many a corner in New England before — are more the product of a favorable system. We guess we’ll find out in the next few weeks.
Scouting Report: In 2006, Asante wrote himself a blank check with a 65 tackles, 10 interceptions and 24 deflections season and kept critics off this back with another solid season (46 tackles, 18 PDs, 6 INTs) in 2007. Not bad when you consider how well the offense played (D was on the field, and that QBs are much more wary of the corner now than even a year ago. Samuel has decent size combined with athletic ability and instincts. Samuel is very good at re-routing receivers with his hands and has shown good ball skills (well except for the SuperBowl) and has good footwork and balance while plays develop. Known more for his burst than overall speed, Samuel uses it well in reacting to passes for deflections and interceptions. Not great in run support, he’s still a solid tackler. Lacks ideal height as receivers seem to continue to get taller and taller in the league.
Recommendation: Money has to be the biggest factor in whether the Jets are truly interested in Samuel. Thoughts are that the corner is likely to see the same type of money (8-yr, $80 million) that Nate Clements did last offseason, even if he might not be the same level of player. Also, rumors have been floated that Mangini might be looking towards using more man coverage in 2008, so would Asante fit the bill? My thought is that Randall Gay might be a player the Jets are more serious about as if you remember, he came in for a visit during his RFA travels.
The Jets definitely need to get a move on signing these guys or else i am afraid of another 4-12 season. We have so many needs and we need to act fast. Once free agency starts. Mangini and Tannabaum better start signing like crazy. We need OL, WR, OLB, CB, and that Wide out has to be a big play maker like Chad Johnson. This is just like the 2005 season, the team is a mess and we have yet another quarterback controversy. I think that if the Jets aren’t close or in a superbowl within the next 2 years Mangini and Tannabaum have to go because i can’t stand this “well maybe but we still don’t know” stuff. They know as good we do that we need a good Corner to go with Revis and a big WR with play making ability. We are under the cap. I don’t really want to trade Vilma but if we have to. We need to RESIGN Rhodes and L. Coles or otherwise we’ll have a repeat of Pete Kendall. I mean, I just wish the Jets would get something right and win a Super bowl!
I agree with most of what Garrett wrote, except the thing about “we need to be in or close to a superbowl in the next 2 years”. There are 32 teams in the league – all of them want to be in or close to the SB every year but each year, only 4 are close. Should every team fire their gm & coach every 3 years if they don’t make it to the championship game? There is so much luck involved and as much as I want it, the truth is that we don’t deserve it any more than anyone else, simply by the fact that we are in NY. People talk about a curse, but we aren’t the only team not to win a SB in a long time and there are quite a few teams that have never won it. I’m sick of being patient, too, but the truth is, the only shot we’ve got is to have some stability. Fire these guys, bring in a new coach & GM & what do you have: another 5 year plan. As much as we all diss herm, he was doing pretty good until ‘05 and not much of that was his fault. That many injuries on any team will bring a 4-12 record. He does stink in KC – maybe the team he inherited wasn’t as good as most thought. He’s certainly had QB issues. I say stick with Tangini for at least another 3 years and if the team is showing improvement, stay with them longer.
Personally, I’m sick of NOT being patient.
Let’s do this right.
Asante Samuel is great in zone coverage, a perfect fit for a cover-2 scheme. However he is overrated, I feel Revis will be 2x better than him. i would rather sign a PB guard to a big contract than to a CB. At least signing a guard can help the run and pass game.
If I was Mangini I would steer clear of Samuel, we already have Rhodes and Revis
Remember that Mangini knows both Samuel and Gay well, he was the defensive backs coach in NE if I recall correctly. Given this, I’m willing to trust his judgment of which one to go with; I do expect them to sign one of them on or close to the start of the FA period.
From the poicture, judging by the looks in their eyes, it might be time to get a room :<
Caption from Asante: “Yeah baby !”
The jets were 9th in pass defense last year, 3 spots ahead of the SB champion Giants(12th) and only 2 spots behind NE(7th). And all without any semblance of a pass rush. Contrastingly, we were 29th in run defense last year. You figure it out.
sth11,
Stats can be misleading. That only shows that teams ran the ball on us freely. Why pass the ball if you’re ahead, and have success running the ball?
The game is all about ball control. If you watch the games, our pass-D wasn’t good.
You nailed it on the head, KJ. We were 9th in yards per game, but 24th in yards per attempt, and 25th in sacks. Teams simply didn’t have to pass against us very much late in games, partly because they had so much success early in games.
The point I was trying to make was that we have much larger issues on the lines. We need depth, and fast. Picking up a FA like Samuels would be like putting a band-aid on a knife wound. You can’t justify adding a top-tier FA like Samuels to the DB corps when our d-line is in shambles. The Giants d-line has already proved this. I can see going after Gay, because he is a solid FA who would add depth but not at the cost of preventing us from addressing the true issues of this team.
You are definitely right in that stats can be misleading, and I am hardly a stat-hound, but it doesnt change the fact that our biggest problem is run defense. If the game is all about ball control, and we cant stop the run, then wouldn’t that prove my point that adding a corner like Samuels would be counterproductive, because it draws capspace away from positions that need to be addressed(OLB/DE, NT) much more than a corner. Adding one solid player to each of these positions (much easier said than done) will address both the run and pass defenses.
If teams run the ball all over us and have very little need to pass in order to win, what point does signing the biggest FA corner this year do for us? Nothing!, except waste money that could be spread around to the positions that truly need to be upgraded.