Asante Samuel Is Thinking of a Number

Asante Samuel and the Patriots have until February 29 to work out a new contract or the fifth-year cornerback hits the free-agent market. Depending on whether Nnamdi Asomugha and Marcus Trufant are franchised by their respective teams, Samuel could be the most sought after player -- at any position -- once free agency begins.

The Patriots have promised they wouldn't franchise Samuel (again) so they are faced with paying him gobs of dough or going in a different direction. If they choose to pay him, it won't come cheap (surprising, I know). But how much is the 27-year-old former fourth-round pick looking for? Samuel's agent spoke with the Boston Globe's Christopher Gasper:

Last year, Nate Clements was the top free agent cornerback and received an eight-year, $80 million deal from the San Francisco 49ers that included a $10 million signing bonus and a $10 million option bonus due this year.

But the key to Clements's deal with relation to Samuel is the $28.9 million in base salary and bonuses Clements can make in the first three years. It will likely take something in that range for the Patriots to retain Samuel, although Shavers said he and Samuel haven't settled on numbers yet.

So there you go. Guarantee Samuel somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million in the first three years, and he's yours, New England. The Patriots have a history of letting high-priced free agents walk (Richard Seymour, Tom Brady and Corey Dillon are the obvious exceptions) and there's no reason to think they'd create future cap problems form themselves just to keep Samuel.

If the two sides can't come to an agreement, one option might be to promote Randall Gay.