Andy Reid Bids Farewell To Asante Samuel

You ever see one of those deals were someone is offering to basically give their car away for nothing to anyone willing to take over the payments? That's essentially the deal the Eagles pulled today sending Asante Samuel to the Falcons for a 7th round pick. Andy Reid released a statement wishing him well.

"We wish Asante Samuel all the best as he heads into the next chapter of his career in Atlanta. He has been a very productive member of the Eagles for the past four years and we appreciate all that he has done for our organization. We obviously feel good about our cornerback situation moving forward with Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie as our starters. Those two played very well together in the latter part of the season and we anticipate that will continue as we head into the 2012 season."

The optimist Eagles fans will say the Eagles took whatever they could get for a 31 year old, increasingly injured (missed 7 games over the past two years) corner who doesn't fit their system and was due over $20 million. The pessimist will say they more or less gave away a 4 time pro bowler who had 25 interceptions for this team and was still playing well when healthy last season.

I suppose the answer is probably somewhere in the middle. The real value from this deal could come from what the Eagles do with the huge amount of cap space they've created as a result. LeSean McCoy is obviously headed into the last year of his deal. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who will replace Asante is in the final year of his deal. Jeremy Maclin is signed through 2013, but could be a prime candidate for an early extension either at some point this year or next offseason. So there's certainly no shortage of places that money can be spent.