Asante stays, Daboll goes, Graham’s fate unknown

By Os Davis  |   Sunday, February 18, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

New England Patriots
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The collective sigh of dismay in the New England area was perhaps matched only by the subsequent sigh of relief upon hearing the recent Patriots personnel moves.

The good news in the papers Friday was all about the naming of Asante Samuel as the Patriots' franchise player. With this decision made in favor of Samuel over tight end Daniel Graham, the second would-be unrestricted free agent, New England fans can both look forward to a strong secondary in 2007 whilst simultaneously looking back to marvel at Samuel's progress in his breakthrough season.

Sometimes strictly painful to watch in recent years, either for allowing Colt receivers to run rampant or unfortunately acting as the butt of bad calls in the infamous playoff game against the Denver Broncos in 2006, Samuel came into his own in his second season as a starter.

In Samuel's case, the stats don't lie: His solo tackles, always a staple feature on New England's 'D', increased by exactly one per game played, from 41 in 2005 to 56 in '06. Samuel threw in 10 interceptions, enough to make him No. 1 in the NFL alongside Champ Bailey, and his pick of a Peyton Manning pass in the AFC Championship game represented the four-year veteran's all-time high third interception return for a TD in the playoffs.

While Patriot backers are doubtlessly thrilled to have Samuel return, the news of wide receivers coach Brian Daboll's imminent departure cannot truly be positively spun.

As though the slow dissolution of the New England roster weren't bad enough for fans of the navy blue-and-silver, news in the Boston Globe and in the Boston Herald on Friday had "sources" revealing that Daboll would be joining the coaching ranks of Bill Belichick and the Patriots' new rivals, Eric Mangini and the New York Jets.

Joining the Patriots in 2000, Daboll has since worked with a revolving door at the position, seeing 27 different wideouts. The turnaround was most dramatic last season, when new Patriots Reche Caldwell, Doug Gabriel, Chad Jackson and even Jabar Gaffney late in the season were called upon to fill the gap left in the wake of the departed David Givens, Deion Branch and Tim Dwight.

While Tom Brady and Belichick got most of the credit, it was Daboll who shaped the ragtag bunch into a cohesive unit, just as he had done in previous years while raising the stock of players like Givens and Branch. (And now what will become of Caldwell, Daboll's half-finished project?)

Finally, there's the question of Graham. With Samuel bagging the franchise tag, Graham becomes an unrestricted free agent. Graham was part of a trio upon which the Patriots were mightily dependent in 2006, particularly in the early going. Graham, Benjamin Watson and rookie David Thomas combined for 85 receptions, over a quarter of Brady's completions; the Pats' TE-heavy game plan peaked out in the Broncos game in Week 3, which had the New Englanders running three-TE sets on nearly one out of every three plays.

Graham, therefore, would appear to be necessary to the Patriot game plan next season, but that has been thought before about guys like Ty Law, Adam Vinatieri, Lawyer Milloy and Willie McGinest.

In Belichick's New England, the system rules. It's now up to the front office to decide how integral Graham is. Now that Samuel's safely aboard, Graham's status will give the folks in the northeast something else to worry about until, say, draft weekend.

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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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