The 2011 Philadelphia Eagles seem to make news every week, so why not make some news on their bye week, too?
Cornerback Asante Samuel joined Tim McManus and Pat Callahan of 97.5 The Fanatic in Philly earlier today. And Samuel made it clear that he’s not happy with the team’s reported willingness to trade him.
“Definitely, it doesn’t sit well with me,” Samuel said. “Definitely, I’ve been nothing but what they expected me to be when they brought me there. . . . Definitely, it doesn’t sit well with me. And obviously they don’t want me there, so life goes on. So we’ll see where I’ll be at.”
Samuel says that knowing the team doesn’t want him won’t affect his play.
“Well, as long as I’m getting paid I’m gonna do my job,” Samuel said. “So whoever [is] cutting the check, I do my job. . . . So I’m not worried about that. I just know in the back of my head they don’t want me there. So, you know, that’s not gonna leave. They put it out there so everybody could know that, so I know that and everybody knows that. So it’s in the back of my head. And Asante Samuel is a business entity first, so I’m going to make sure I handle my business accordingly.”
Samuel was the subject of trade rumors after the Eagles acquired Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnadmi Asomugha in the days after the lockout ended. Last week, those rumors resurfaced before the annual trading deadline.
Samuel joined the Eagles on the first day of free agency in 2008, only weeks after dropping what would have been a perfect-season-clinching interception for the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Signed through 2013, Samuel’s salary spikes from $5.9 million this year to $8.4 million next season. He’s due to earn $10.4 million in base salary in the final year of the deal.