After the Eagles traded Asante Samuel to the Falcons for a seventh-round pick on April 25, the path was cleared for Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to take over the starting positions at cornerback.
But what if the Birds had elected to keep Asante? Would it have worked?
Sure, the trio had some trouble jelling last season, but Asomugha thinks that one more year together could've helped.
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"I thought it could have worked, and I still think it could've worked," Asomugha said on The Rich Eisen Podcast, according to NFL.com. "Everybody keeps saying that, you know, 'No, it can't work, you three, blah blah blah.' I still thought it could've worked, even coming into this season. Asante and I would talk about it through the off-season, like, we can fix this. ... Now we've got another year under our belt; now we've got time; and then he's gone. So now it's like you don't get that chance to put it back out there. But, you know, it's whatever, and he's happy with where he is."
Asomugha played right corner in his first season with the Birds and Samuel retained his left corner spot, forcing Rodgers-Cromartie to play out of position in the slot.
In four seasons with the Eagles, Samuel had 25 interceptions in 61 games, including playoffs. But his age (31) and salary (he was due 9.9 million this year) were the two main reasons the Birds decided to move him.