Canal Street Chronicles
Samuel Jr. is a viable option in the secondary pending his post-op check-in.
Free agent cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. is coming off of undergoing neck surgery in April, but he visited with the New Orleans Saints on Monday per Jeremy Fowler at ESPN.
Samuel is considered one of the top remaining free agents at his position and at only 25 years of age he’s still got a ton of gas in the tank, assuming everything goes well with his neck surgery recovery. Obviously, he’s going to meet with several interested teams but I’m extremely hopeful on the outlook of his contributions in 2025 since he is waiting to sign after his next checkup in July.
Samuel has been a workhorse for the Los Angeles Chargers prior to getting injured last year. He played 92% plus of snaps in 2022 and 2023 while racking up 50+ tackles in each year. His interception numbers aren’t crazy but are consistent with 2 each full year playing.
Another big piece to this is that the Saints new Defensive Coordinator Brandon Staley previously coached Samuel with the Chargers so he is familiar with his game and likely keeps him in the mix even though the Saints have started filling out that cornerback room.
