How About Randall Gay as a Cheap Alternative to Asante Samuel?

ESPN.com's K.C. Joyner spends a lot of time watching football. And after watching every play of the 2007 season, he thinks Asante Samuel's reputation precedes him. Or more precisely, that Samuel's reputation might not be worth as much as the Nate Clements-type contract he'll surely want this off-season.

According to Joyner's statistics, Samuel was much better in 2006 than last season, and his contract demands might not be worth it based on his productivity. I'm sure the Patriots have considered as much, but I wonder if they came to the same conclusion as Joyner about how to address the potential problem:

If [Samuel's drop in productivity in '07 wasn't] enough to give the Patriots pause, there are some compelling alternate options to Samuel on the free-agent market. The first of these players is already on New England's roster, nickel cornerback Randall Gay.

Gay had a superb 5.8 YPA last season and allowed zero completions on the seven vertical passes thrown his way. Those numbers indicate he has the potential to be a starter. Gay is almost certain to garner a lot of interest on the market, but he will not be priced at the elite cornerback level. He would not cost the Patriots anywhere near as much as Samuel and could potentially give them

Okay, on the surface this sounds preposterous. But then I remembered that Gay was serviceable during his rookie season (2004) when he started nine games for an injured Ty Law.

And while Gay's 2007 numbers are nice, having a good secondary comes down to one thing: having an even better front seven, specifically the pass rushers. The Patriots don't have any trouble letting high-priced players walk, and if the front office can figure out a way to improve the pass rush they would probably prefer to do that, keep Gay, and let Samuel test free agency.

Law was arguably a better player than Samuel, and the team somehow managed to get by after he was released. I don't see that changing if Samuel goes elsewhere in 2008.