Over the weekend, MDS brought you a report from Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer about the Eagles’ ongoing efforts to deal cornerback Asante Samuel.
The biggest sticking point to a deal seems to be a contract that calls for Samuel to make a base salary $9.5 million this season. That’s a lot for a team to take on in a trade, just as it was last season when a deal with the Lions fell through because Detroit didn’t have enough cap space. Another report from McLane might offer a path toward a trade.
Per McLane, Samuel is open to restructuring his contract to make a deal happen. That should make it somewhat easier to find a trading partner, but it hardly makes anything certain to happen.
Restructuring would mean pushing more money into the remaining year of Samuel’s deal and/or adding more years through an extension. That means even less cap space and, even worse, it could mean dead money on the cap after Samuel ceases to be a contibutor to the team. That’s not a particularly appealing prospect when you’re being asked to part ways with draft picks for a 31-year-old cornerback.