Mortgaging the future with Moss and Samuel

With free agency starting up, the Patriots have several major decisions to make. First is what to do about Asante Samuel, and that is to give him a contract that will make him the highest paid CB if he hits similar performance clauses that he was able to hit this year. Let’s face it, he is better than Nate Clements or at the least better due to the team he is on. Last year one or the arguments against giving him a huge contract was that he didn’t have a long enough track record to justify the money, well now he has had another year of excellent play. What signing Asante will do is solidify one portion of an aging defense. It generally is not the Patriots policy to make one of their players the top paid in any position ( Tom Brady isn’t paid top dollar). That being said, I feel that Asante will be gone and that he will be a New York Jet.

The next important cog in the Patriots machine is Randy Moss. Rumor has it that he will take a home town discount, lets assume that is about 10% off top pay. That is definitely a good deal for New England. Detractors will say that he is aging (31 is old?) and that he is slowing down. To those detractors you can say the 10% off is for depreciation . If the Patriots decide to franchise Randy, then he will get the average of the top five receivers and that would be approximately 7.7 million. Why risk the alienating a known sensitive receiver by franchising when you could sign him to a three year deal that is clause laden to protect the Patriots from any unseen age related breakdown. I still believe that there are plenty of examples of older receivers excelling ( Joey Galloway) . Finally, Randy and Tom have a good working chemistry, why upset the apple cart . It is a distinct possibility that the Patriots don’t make the Superbowl without Randy , since the offense was a much a part of the defense as was any of the linebackers or defensive backs.

Then we have good old Jabar Gaffney who is a solid number three wideout . He overtook Donte Stallworth as a reliable third or fourth check down . With Donte due eight million, the Patriots could cut Donte and sign Jabar for at least half that. Jabar is quite solid and dependable and if the Patriots want a large possession receiver they can exercise the option on Kelly Washington (though at 4 million, the Patriots will try to renegotiate ). As for Chad Jackson, who knows what’s going on with his status.

Bubble players such as Eugene Wilson and Randall Gay could find themselves a nice payday if Asante Samuel leaves. They both seem to have durability issues which could prove beneficial for the Patriots in contract negotiations should the Patriots decide to try to retain their services. Though Brandon Merriweather’s increased playing time towards the end of the year into the playoffs could signify the end of the Eugene Wilson era .

This should prove to be an interesting business season for the Patriots. Where will the focus be? Will Bill finally draft a linebacker early ? Who will they keep?

Time will tell.