Asante Samuel News

The offseason. A time to forget about last season, whether it turned out to be successful or a failure, and turn the focus to next season.

With NFL training camps just around the corner, we're taking a team-by-team look at how the offseason played out and what you can expect in 2012 .

As part of an offseason that can just be boring leading into training camp, it's time to take a look into every unit and pick a story that could change the defense.

Somewhere on the Atlanta Falcons ' practice field, between where Asante Samuel pounded his chest and yelled "Deuce! Deuce!" and where Sean Weatherspoon yelled back "How you doing?", Matt Ryan looked at the ground.

There were plenty of reasons behind the Eagles' 8-8 disappointment last season, but Castillo was cast as the scapegoat.

But there is one brand new set of eyes in the coaches' area of the NovaCare Complex and they belong to Todd Bowles, the former Temple standout who comes to the Eagles as secondary coach after working with the position group in the NFL since 2000 with the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys and, most recently, Miami Dolphins.

Asante Samuel was impossible to ignore during the Atlanta Falcons' first full-squad practice this offseason.

Jeff McLane had a nice Sunday feature on Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha , who says he wanted to come to Philadelphia last year because he knew how hungry the place was for a championship and he wanted to be part of bringing one to it.

In the aftermath of the relatively quick and painless contract agreement with LeSean McCoy , the scuttlebutt has centered on the changes in the Eagles front office.

Having one great option at any given position is nice, but being able to accumulate solid players behind that player is necessary to win consistently.

What if every NFL player had stock you could buy? Who would be the trade at the highest price? It's an interesting idea.

If things remain the status quo from here until the start of the 2012 regular season, there will be three new starters on defense for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Philadelphia Eagles had probably the most impressive draft on the defensive side of the ball of any team in the NFL.

No one is likely to steal his job. Celek just wanted to get on the field and get to work.

Nnamdi Asomugha, always very detailed and rarely haphazard about virtually anything he does, surprised his audience when the removal of his helmet revealed the infant stages of a fuzzy afro thickening around his head.

THE LATE Jim Johnson was a sports writer's dream. If you asked him a question, he almost always gave you an honest, unvarnished answer.

Brandon Boykin is the Eagles' flavor of the month. A feisty, physical, 5-9 cornerback/return man whom folks have been gushing about ever since he fell into the team's lap in the fourth round of last month's draft.

That sentence basically sums up where the Eagles stand in relation to their offensive line right now, in the post-Jason Peters 2012 continuity.

A few struggled with injuries in 2011. Others did not play up to expectations. One did not play at all.

The 2012 offseason has been one of the more turbulent in recent memory. The Atlanta Falcons changed both coordinators, and essentially stole Asante Samuel from the Philadelphia Eagles .