Asante Samuel may find his $100 million, 10-year contract in New Orleans. Fox Sports says that the Saints are willing to pay the ticket up to $10-11 million dollars a year for Samuel’s talents. Samuel is direly needed in New Orleans because their secondary was the wrong kind of holy last year. If they fork over the money, they could see significant improvement on defense next year–maybe avoid those shootouts with Kurt Warner.
The Cleveland Browns are a less likely candidate for Samuel’s services, but they are interested. It seems they want every free agent they can get this offseason. They definitely have the same shootout problem as the Saints though, so Samuel could help in Cleveland just as much as he could for the Saints. Time will tell who pays the highest price because we all know Asante is all about the Benjamins this offseason.
I know I said DeShaun Foster would be going to Tampa Bay to back up Earnest Graham, but now John Clayton is reporting he may be headed to the 49ers insteads to back up Frank Gore. Not sure which of these will come true. Either way, Foster’s fantasy value is likely to be very low next year.
The best advice I could give the 49ers is to pick up a decent wide receiver this offseason with Mike Martz coming into rework the offense. They currently don’t have any big threats in the receiving department. According to recent reports, Bernard Berrian is “interested” in the 49ers if an offer comes his way. He will be highly sought after this offseason and might get his pick between the Browns and the 49ers if both are serious about making an offer since the Browns have previously stated their interested. While Berrian’s value would increase if he moved to the Browns, it would skyrocket if he moved to the 49ers since he would definitely be taking a #1 receiver position with Martz directing the passing plays.
Rumors are rampant about Jerry Jones’ moves for the Cowboys this offseason. First, everyone said he would go after the Miami #1 pick to get Darren McFadden. Now, NFL talk is that Jones is after bringing Randy Moss or Javon Walker to the Cowboys. He has stated that he wants a big offensive addition this offseason. Both of these guys would be an impact–Moss more than Walker–but Moss is very unlikely to leave his beloved Tom Brady.
Expect more rumors about Walker move to circulate, but I expect Randy Moss and the Patriots to announce a restructured contract on February 29. If Walker jumps to the Cowboys, his fantasy value would depend upon how they utilize him versus Terrell Owens, but it would be about the same as if he stayed in Denver opposite Brandon Marshall. He wouldn’t be an elite wide receiver either way.
J.P. Losman might find a second chance as a starter for either Miami or Kansas City next year. Both have inquired about his services. I think he still has some juice left in the tank once he heals up and recovers from being prematurely replaced by Trent Edwards. He could immediately impact Miami as long as he can beat out John Beck if that is his destination of choice, but he would have to battle for the starting job in Kansas City–probably not to his liking. His value would be higher as a mid-tier quarterback if he ends up in Miami along with some free agent wide receivers that Bill Parcells lands this offseason.
For the Baltimore Ravens, if they don’t take a quarterback in th draft, their hope will be in Troy Smith to lead the Ravens to victory. They liked what they saw from him the last two games of 2007 and will look for him to prove himself in 2008.
