If Asante Samuel is still a member of the Eagles come training camp, coach Andy Reid won't complain.
Philadelphia's front office has acknowledged its willingness to shop the Pro Bowl cornerback (and the Titansare reportedly intrigued), but if a deal doesn't go down, Reid must find a better way to fit Samuel, Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie into the same defensive backfield. Last season, it bordered on too much of a good thing.
"Asante is obviously on the team," Reid told ESPN.com this week. "We'll see how things go with the three of them. I said last year and I'll say it again: It's a pretty good situation to have, if you can sit there and say you have those three corners. Asante and Nnamdi are a little bit older, but both of them can still play at a high level. So we'll see how things work out. That's the best I can tell you."
Rodgers-Cromartie, who was forced to play inside in nickel situations, had the most trouble in 2011 as defensive coordinator Juan Castillo struggled to correctly fit everyone in.
"As (Rodgers-Cromartie) settled into the nickel position and he learned it, he understood the leverage, and that was really the primary thing that was the problem," Reid said. "Just learning the leverage along with the coverages and indicators of splits with the inside receivers and the kind of routes that came off. He went through and he learned all of that. And we keep all of that kind of in-house with our players, any talk we have with them."
This is a situation to keep an eye on as Asante's fate becomes clear and the Eagles look to rebound from a disappointing season on the defensive side of the ball.