Trade for Philadelphia: Asante Samuel is one of the best cornerbacks in the league, but I understand the need to move him. The Eagles already have two good outside cornerbacks in Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Rodgers-Cromartie really struggled last season because he had to line up on the slot most of the time, but he should be better on the outside this year. The Eagles are then expected to use a day 2 pick on an interior/nickel/slot cornerback. Samuel also had a large contract and was 31 years of age.

All that being said, they let one of the league’s premier cornerbacks get away for a 6^th round pick and even worse, they let him get away on an incredibly reasonable restructured deal, 18.5 million over 3 years. Just check these numbers out: over the past 2 years, opposing quarterbacks throwing on Samuel have completed 48 of 102 for 437 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He’s also got more interceptions and touchdowns before the age of 31 than any cornerback ever. He’s one of the game’s elite and he might be so frequently called overrated that he’s underrated.

Grade: C

Trade for Atlanta: I LOVE this deal for Atlanta. They really lacked cornerback depth last year, but with other needs and so few picks (3 in the first 5 rounds), they probably wouldn’t have gotten a chance to address this need. Now they turn a 6^th round pick into one of the game’s elite cornerbacks at a reasonable rate (18.5 million over 3 years)? They now have two elite cornerbacks (Asante Samuel and Brent Grimes) and an interesting bounce back candidate (Dunta Robinson). That might be the league’s deepest cornerback crew.

Grade: A