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Samuel agent: Time to regroup

We just wrapped up a chat with Jay Bianco, one of the agents for Asante Samuel, and in addition to telling us what we already knew -- that he and partner Alonzo Shavers were not able to strike a long-term deal with the Patriots on behalf of their client -- and what we didn't know -- that Samuel and his agents will now take time to regroup and let Samuel do what's best for him.

"We'll guide him and ultimately the decision is up to him," said Bianco.

Though there was a 4 p.m. deadline, Bianco said the two sides were not negotiating right up until the final allowable minute. The numbers were too far apart.

"There's no way to quantify (how far apart they were), but it's not a situation where if we had had a few more hours it would have gotten done," Bianco said.

With no deal struck, Samuel and Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs were the two franchise-designated players not to come to a long-term agreement with their respective teams this year. The other four players who received the franchise tag -- Cincinnati's Justin Smith, Detroit's Cory Redding, New Orleans' Charles Grant and Seattle's Josh Brown -- all signed multi-year extensions with their clubs.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments 10