Eagles deal Asante Samuel to the Falcons

After having him on the trade block for almost a year, the Eagles have finally shipped Asante Samuel out of town, trading him to the Falcons for a mere 7th round pick.  Samuel restructured his contract with Atlanta to earn less money as a requirement of the deal.

Why the Eagles traded a still very good cornerback for just a late round pick is somewhat puzzling on the surface.  While the Eagles certainly didn't get much value in return for Samuel, they are freeing up the money needed to sign LeSean McCoy to a huge contract while still allowing themselves plenty of room under the cap to remain flexible.  If you think it sounds like the Eagles are being cheap, you are probably right, but they always like to have extra cap space should they need it.  It's a tough trade to swallow, however, with Samuel still playing at a nearly elite level.

The Eagles "dream secondary" is no more though it will still be one of the best in the league with Nnamdi and DRC and whoever they trot out at the two safety positions.  While it would have been nice for the Eagles to try to restructure Samuel's deal to keep him around, NFL teams don't like to invest too much money into one position and clearly he didn't fit into the teams long term plans.  As long as the Eagles lock up McCoy to a long deal, I'm okay with dumping Samuel's contract.