Buzz: Lions still interested in Samuel

[lp4ever41]

FOX Sports Detroit's Mike O'Hara reports that the Lions departed this week's Owners Meetings with a "buzz" that they remain interested in Asante Samuel after last year's failed attempt to acquire him.
O'Hara is a longtime Lions beat writer, and it should be noted that he called the team's 2011 signing of Justin Durant long before it happened. As O'Hara notes, cornerback remains an area of need in Detroit, so it's reasonable to think the Lions might take another crack at Samuel. The Lions offered two second-day picks for Samuel last summer. He may only cost one this year.


Unless Avril is gone or re-signed, this won't happen.

 

[Slick]

FOX Sports Detroit's Mike O'Hara reports that the Lions departed this week's Owners Meetings with a "buzz" that they remain interested in Asante Samuel after last year's failed attempt to acquire him.
O'Hara is a longtime Lions beat writer, and it should be noted that he called the team's 2011 signing of Justin Durant long before it happened. As O'Hara notes, cornerback remains an area of need in Detroit, so it's reasonable to think the Lions might take another crack at Samuel. The Lions offered two second-day picks for Samuel last summer. He may only cost one this year.


Unless Avril is gone or re-signed, this won't happen.

unless they cut Corey Williams now that I think about it....he is like 5 or 6 million on the cap

 

[lp4ever41]

unless they cut Corey Williams now that I think about it....he is like 5 or 6 million on the cap

$5 mil. Obviously, Asante needs to restructure, which he said he'd do. IDK if Mayhew wants to cut Williams though.

Honestly, I think if they cut him, he'd probably return at the minimum. This draft class is STACKED at DT, not sure why anyone would pay an old, declining DT anything more than the min.

 

[alanclark1]

Although Tennessee appears to be the most likely landing spot for cornerback Asante Samuel, the Lions are also interested in acquiring Samuel in a trade with the Eagles.

Mike O’Hara of FOXSportsDetroit.com reports that the Lions’ interest in Samuel continues. Detroit attempted to trade for Samuel last year, but a deal couldn’t be reached. Cornerback remains a position of need for the Lions, who lost Eric Wright in free agency.

For the Lions, a potential stumbling block is whether Samuel is willing to take a pay cut. Detroit doesn’t have a lot of cap space, and Samuel’s base salary of $9.9 million is not something the Lions would likely be willing to pay.

The Eagles are reportedly seeking a third-round pick for Samuel, although they may be willing to accept a 2013 third-rounder that would be conditioned on Samuel meeting certain playing time benchmarks.

 

[lp4ever41]

Bob Grotz of the Delco Times believes Eagles CB Asante Samuel is more likely to be released than traded.
It's about money, not talent. The Titans, through beat writer Jim Wyatt, have essentially laughed at the Eagles' reported third-round asking price for a 31-year-old cornerback with salaries of $9.9 million and $11.4 million the next two years. Even if Samuel restructures his deal, the cap hit will be divided over the next two years while the base salary is converted to a substantial signing bonus.


Unless Tennessee pays significantly more, I'd have to think he'd choose Detroit from those two options if he's released. The Eagles are usually good about getting value in trades though. We'll see.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Release is good. I'd also do a trade with certain benchmarks reached, better or lower pick.

 

[lp4ever41]

NFL Network's Jason LaCanfora disputes a report that the Lions are interested in Eagles CB Asante Samuel.
The Lions may very well have interest in Samuel, but they're not going to play along with the Eagles' reported third-round asking price right now. Per LaCanfora, the Titans do have "some interest," but nothing is imminent on the trade front. The Eagles are going to have to drop their compensation demands to move their high-priced cornerback.

 

[everyoneneedsasmil]

There's simply no way we could justify that salary at all, much less while giving up a 3rd round pick. The Eagles can't either, which is why they are trying to trade him in the first place. There's no way I would take on that salary (even with a restructuring that would likely require we pay him until he is 35). The best we can hope for is he gets cut and takes a much lower salary. But then, if he gets cut, we probably get out-bid by another team with plenty of cap space.

CB salaries are out of control right now, did you see what Eric Wright got?

 

[motown1958]

Nobody should offer them any thing more than a 6 or 7th. If you as a gm of an NFL franchise take a calculated risk by having some top flight corners and the third best is still making 10 million nobody should help let you off the hook. If you want that space freed up then cut the player. Sorry eagles

 

[Slick]

Updating a previous item, Fox Sports Detroit's Mike O'Hara now reports there's "not a chance" the Lions will trade for CB Asante Samuel.

O'Hara had previously reported Owners Meetings "buzz" that the Lions remained interested. He's now reversing course after hearing from a reliable source. Samuel's age (31) and salary ($9.9 million) as well as the Eagles' asking price are all stumbling blocks to a potential trade, especially since Lions GM Martin Mayhew prefers to acquire younger players prior to their second contract.

 

[imthetruth]

I could see the Lions back in the Asante Sweepstakes only if he is cut.

 

[alanclark1]

On Thursday afternoon, we shared a report from Mike O?Hara of FOXSportsDetroit.com indicating the Lions were interested in trading for Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel.

It?s a bit later Thursday afternoon and O?Hara has filed another report on the Lions and Samuel. This one brings the exact opposite news, with a source telling O?Hara that there?s ?not a chance? the Lions make a deal for Samuel. While cornerback remains a spot of need for Detroit, they are apparently not interested in making another run at a player they almost landed in a trade last year.

Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network is hearing the same thing, which either means the Lions really aren?t interested in making a deal or that they are trying to get the asking price down from the third-round draft pick that the Eagles are reportedly looking for as compensation. Both make sense, although the former might be a bigger factor given the size of Samuel?s cap number and the Lions? relatively tight situation with the cap.

La Canfora does confirm Tennessee?s interest in trading for Samuel, although he cautions that nothing is imminent. That sounds like a good place to leave things for a player who has been on the trading block for the better part of a year without anything taking him out of Philadelphia.

 

[wheels002]

Seeing we are in salary cap jail I dont see him ending up here. I wish we could work it out but right now its a pipe dream

 

[turok]

Iggles lost their studly starting LT Peters yesterday, for probably all of next season to an achilles tear while he was doing some off-season conditioning exercises, so now they might be even more motivated to trade Samuel...but of course the Lions can't afford to lose any adequate, much less halfway-decent players from their OL in a trade, and are obviously in great need themselves of more help on their OL, and especially @ LT (and soon groom a C to eventually replace "Raiholda").

Peters' injury shakes up Eagles' offseason

 

[inkfreq]

I'd be all too happy to send them Cherilus for Asante. I'd even kick in Petermann. And a hundy. And a weekend stay at the Best Western... I have points.