More fan contributions from Philly.com Sports partner Bleacher Report
Asante Samuel was rolling plain white primer onto blank drywall yesterday, mostly so cameras would have something to shoot at a Habitat for Humanity build where Samuel was appearing on behalf of his charity, the Bring It Home Single Moms Foundation.
When Samuel finished covering the back kitchen wall of the Grays Ferry rowhouse and put down his paint roller, the wall was smooth but unfinished, awaiting further developments; perhaps it will wear a different color when all is said and done.
DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo makes a point with Asante Samuel. Some fans still want to see Castillo gone.
So it also is with Samuel, the Eagles' three-time Pro Bowl cornerback.
Samuel, who turned 31 last month, had never missed the playoffs in 8 years as a pro, with the Patriots and Eagles, before the 8-8 Eagles fell short this year. He went to the Pro Bowl 4 years in a row before this year. He is owed $9.4 million next season, a big jump up from last season's $5.9 million, and more than $11 million in 2013, the final season of the 6-year, $57 million-plus contract he signed as a free agent in 2008.
Even more telling, the Eagles' attempts to meld Samuel's style of playing off the receiver, lurking for interceptions, with the man-press coverage instincts of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha - well, that whole deal was a huge disappointment to everyone involved.
The widespread assumption is that Samuel will be traded, although the Eagles certainly have not said so. But when Samuel missed the final two games of the season with a hamstring injury, and Rodgers-Cromartie and Asomugha were the starters for two wins in which the defense was very strong, reporters and fans assumed they were getting a taste of the future.
Maybe new secondary coach Todd Bowles will have something to say about that, but so far, Bowles and Samuel haven't spoken, Samuel said. Samuel said he knows nothing more than he knew when the season ended. He said his preference is to remain with the Eagles.
"I was expecting you to answer all those questions for me," Samuel said, when a Daily News reporter asked what he expects to happen. "You, Joe, Howie, Andy, and Jeff, ain't y'all cool?"
The Eagles' president, Joe Banner, their general manager, Howie Roseman, coach Andy Reid and chairman Jeffrey Lurie so far have resisted the urge to spell out their plans to us.
"They don't tell you those things? I don't know. I'm hoping to be here. That's all," Samuel said.
Can he mesh better with Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie than he did last season, when the Birds' secondary ranked 24th in the NFL in touchdown passes surrendered?
"Anything's possible," said Samuel, who managed only three interceptions after picking off 16 passes the previous two seasons. Samuel remained effective in coverage, though, and was probably the Birds' most consistent corner, with Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie learning on the job.
"I'm getting ready for next year," Samuel said. "I had a productive season."
Could Asante adapt to more man, press coverage?
"Yeah, I'll play whatever I need to play. As long as you make the play, what difference does it make?" he asked.
What matters, of course, is that it's hard to have the corner on one side playing one style and the guy on the other side playing another. And it's also hard to have a young, skilled corner such as Rodgers-Cromartie, brought here to start, trying to play the slot, which he adjusted to very poorly.
Samuel said he is fine with Juan Castillo returning, but he didn't elaborate.
Samuel said the charity appearance meant a lot to him because he was raised by a single mother, Christine Samuel, who worked a secretarial job for the city of Lauderdale Lakes in his native Florida. There were "three or four" kids in the household when Asante was growing up, he said, with older ones out on their own.
When he was growing up, it seemed they moved every 6 months, he said, and every time he came home from Central Florida, it seemed to be to a different place. He said his mom never owned a home until he bought her a condo after he signed his first NFL contract with the Patriots.
"We moved from house to house, never had a stable foundation," he said. "That's what I'm trying to bring with this charity . . . If we had had this growing up, life would have been so much easier . . . Everytime I looked up, we were moving."
Samuel did a Habitat build in South Florida last year, he said, and the prospective homeowner was a childhood friend of Eagles center Jamaal Jackson.
"It's a small world," Samuel said.
Samuel's charity donated money for the rebuilding of the houses in South Florida and Philadelphia. Habitat for Humanity requires the recipients to put in 250 hours of work on the houses, which they then acquire under a no-interest mortgage. Habitat Philadelphia says it has completed 150 homes to date.
