Former Knight Gets Paid Handsomely

As the NFL's free agency period commenced last Thursday evening at midnight, money began changing hands in a furious manner, and former UCF Knight Asante Samuel and his bank accounts were one of the biggest winners.

Samuel moved from AFC Champion New England to Philadelphia and signed a six-year, $57 million contract with the Eagles which included a $20 million signing bonus, and $32 million over the first three years.

Historically, the Eagles front office has thrown money around like manhole covers, as they are one of the most frugal franchises in the NFL, and year after year have one of the healthiest salary caps because of it. Obviously Samuel was a player that that the team targeted and they certainly showed him the money. Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie was asked if Samuel was their top target-

"To say the least, the Philadelphia Eagles are extremely proud to announce that we have signed Asante Samuel. For our organization, we regarded Asante as the number one available free agent in the NFL, and we are very, very fortunate to be able to acquire him. This is a very increasingly difficult period, I think, for teams to acquire free agents, because we all have cap room and needs at certain key, premium positions, like cornerback."

It's almost amazing how far has Asante Samuel come from his days as a shutdown corner at UCF, to now not only one of the premiere corners in the NFL, but one of the premiere players overall. After being selected in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft, Samuel has had a near storybook career. Asante wasn't a lock to even make the Patriots roster as a rookie, but he persevered, worked hard, and was mostly a special teams contributor on a team that won 17 consecutive games after dropping their first two, and eventually won Super Bowl 38 (and then Super Bowl 39).

It was Asante's second season of 2004 when he really began to make his mark on the league. After playing as a nickel corner and mostly a backup for the first 12 games, Samuel had an opportunity to start against Cincinnati in week 13. Samuel was obviously targeted that day and the Bengals regretted the move. Asante defended three Carson Palmer passes, including a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown. From that point on, Samuel has started every game he's played in and has been the definition of a ball hawk. Asante has 22 career interceptions in the regular season, and 4 more in the postseason, and amazingly 3 out of the 4 Samuel has returned for touchdowns. Samuel talked about earning his respect as a corner-

"There is no doubt about it, in my mind. Just going out and working hard every day, being a fourth rounder, you're not going to be given anything in this league. I just worked my way up and kept working hard and I'm finally getting the respect that I deserve."

Samuel is now widely regarded in the top handful of cornerbacks in the NFL, and he has two Super Bowl rings, and has both a Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection to solidify his status. Asante's new head coach Andy Reid had nothing but good things to say about Samuel-

"Obviously, I think the cornerback position is very important. When you have an opportunity to get the best one in the business, then you need to look at that. I welcome him aboard, and I know (defensive coordinator) Jim Johnson has great plans for Asante. I could easily see him doing what we do on defense when he was on the Patriots."

Although Samuel was perhaps the most sought after free agent in this year's class, he didn't visit any teams other than the Eagles. When asked why, Asante responded-

"When you come to one that makes you happy, why wait around?"

While Asante may have been able to grab a few more dollars by peddling his services around the league, his $20 million signing bonus is nearly three times what he earned last season while playing under the franchise tag in New England. His contract is the largest in Eagles history for a defensive player, and the Eagles are happy to have him according to Andy Reid-

"(Vice President of Football Administration) Howie (Roseman) and (President) Joe (Banner) did a great job in the negotiations today and (Samuel's agent) Alonzo (Shavers) was aggressive and Joe was aggressive and it worked out. It was an awesome thing to watch in a very short period of time. We're fired up to have him."