In his rookie season, Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. showed immense promise as a dependable outside cover agent who could blossom into one of the top players at his position.
That may just become a reality in 2022.
Two concussions limited the former Florida State standout to 12 games last year. When he was healthy, Samuel impressed with 43 tackles, 11 pass breakups, and two interceptions. It would not be a stretch to tab him as one of the team’s best overall defenders in just his first season. However, that is just what the box score shows.
On tape, Samuel is everything head coach Brandon Staley hoped he would be when the Chargers selected him in the second round with the No. 47 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
Staley’s defensive philosophy is well-known by now. The second-year head coach prioritizes athleticism over size, instincts over measurables, and brains over brawn. Samuel, who stands at 5-10 and 180 pounds, was tabbed by analysts during the pre-draft process as a cornerback who would need to transition into a full-time slot role in the league. But, once inducted into Staley’s system, that was never the case.
Samuel’s success is rooted in his movement skills. He is a fluid cornerback with an explosive lower body who keeps a low center of gravity, allowing him to slide across the field easily and snap to the area of action. Samuel rarely is ever caught upright with poor technique. Instead, he plays in control and does not take chances, placing supreme confidence in his talent and real-time processing to execute his assignment.
It did not take long for production when defending the pass to transpire. Samuel stamped his passport to trail the league’s top receivers when he went toe-to-toe against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2. He was tested early and quickly proved his worth.
Backed up in scoring territory, the Chargers rotated from a two-high into what looks like Cover 3. With Derwin James fulfilling his strong safety duties in the box, providing assistance to the run, Dak Prescott realized that Samuel would be in a clear-cut one-on-one matchup.
Samuel displayed good spatial awareness of how deep he was in the end zone and how much room he could allow himself underneath. He recognized the type of cut ran by Cooper was rounded, as opposed to a sharper turn, which meant Samuel could attack the lagging shoulder instead of the leading.
Then, Samuel timed his arm strike when Cooper’s hands were most vulnerable (outstretched, away from the body) and chopped violently with his right arm as the ball arrived. If the first attempt failed, Samuel had his left arm primed from the other side to snake under Cooper’s shoulder for another prod at the ball. The ball ended up dislodged before Nasir Adderley provided extra insurance with his crack from the centerfield position.
The play showcases Samuel’s lower-body quickness, measured reactions, and strength at the catch point.
Samuel was not done. His next exceptional highlight occurred on a play where he was not even the defensive back targeted. On the Cowboys’ next drive, Prescott wanted CeeDee Lamb on a deep post route but ended up with too much loft on his pass. As a result, the ball sailed into the back half of the secondary.
For this play, Samuel is in bail technique against Cooper. Bail is usually a strategy for off-coverage where cornerbacks turn their hips immediately from the snap. The cornerback in bail is tasked with multitasking between the receiver and activity in the pocket. It gives the cornerback a chance to analyze the play’s development and determine the quarterback’s progression at the cost of being late to defend underneath throws and routes that return back to face the passer.
Samuel is outstanding at bail technique because he played a ton of it as an outside cornerback at Florida State. During his time with the Seminoles, Samuel grew comfortable defending receivers in that fashion while keeping a hawkeye on the quarterback. This is where his enhanced sense of spatial awareness and opportunistic playstyle stem from. Samuel is excellent at reading the body language of his target simultaneously as he determines the offense’s intentions.
Samuel’s comfort level in just his second career game defending one of the NFL’s top routemen was insane. Yet, he exhibited a nonchalant pedal, refusing to bite on the Corner fake that Cooper deployed to turn Samuel’s hips. Samuel trusted his eyes and did not fall victim to the veteran’s route-running tricks.
So when Prescott overthrew Lamb, Samuel was already breaking away from Cooper to put himself in position for the interception. He saw the entire play because he received a head-start on the throw trajectory, and then he reacted. He stops trailing Cooper on a dime and hops back to the ball to pick off Prescott.
Samuel also gained over 20 yards on the return to set Justin Herbert and the Chargers’ offense with good field position to work with. This also did not happen by accident. Samuel’s early reaction allowed him to start his interception return before other players on the field launched into their blocks.
The moment the ball arrives, Samuel is primed to receive the ball like a kick returner. Other defensive backs, perhaps if they took one more step while guarding Cooper, would be forced to whip around and contort themselves to stretch for the ball. The momentum would have, at the very least, stalled them momentarily.
Samuel’s confidence never wavered throughout the game. He was not going to let NFL receivers bully him just because of his label as a rookie. While guarding a deep curl by Cooper, Samuel demonstrated a good understanding of what a cornerback can get away with.
Due to the mutual contact with Amari Cooper, Samuel does not worry about a pass interference call as he pulls slightly on Cooper’s shoulder pad. After all, Cooper extended his arm first and initiated the push-off to create separation. Samuel refused to make it easy for Cooper to position his body between him and the ball. Instead, Samuel zippered the short-lived separation with some contact of his own and swarmed the catch point.
A week later, against the Chiefs, Samuel emphasized the need for quarterbacks to play football around him or they would pay the price. That included Patrick Mahomes, who Samuel picked off midway through the first quarter. The interception was off a bullet pass that glanced off the hands of the receiver and careened high into the air. Samuel was able to dive under the ball and secure the turnover.
Here’s the thing: the Chiefs do a great job in scheming the middle of the field open. The Chargers bracket Tyreek Hill, and tight end Travis Kelce runs a good post route that occupies Adderley. Samuel is also drawn to the route, trusting the linebackers to stick with the underneath routes.
Mahomes steps up in the pocket as one of the underneath moves behind the line of linebackers into free space. It had all the makings of a big play, but Mahomes fired high and behind his target. Once again, Samuel kept his eyes up and made a play. He immediately located the ball and his athleticism took over from there.
Later in the game, Samuel forced Mahomes to burn a play halfway through his throwing motion because otherwise there was a good chance it would have been another pick.
Mecole Hardman and Tyreek Hill, the two receivers to the field side, mess up their route depth. Hardman was supposed to go under Hill’s stop route to create a roadblock for Samuel to work around on his pursuit to the throw. But even with the conceptual hiccup, the play could have worked.
What truly busts this play is Samuel’s closing speed. He arrives so fast that Mahomes decided during his windup that it was better not to risk it, seeing as Samuel had already picked him off earlier in the game. He wasted no steps and hardly looks strained coming downhill.
Aspects from the previous games repeated themselves later down the road against the Houston Texans in Week 16. On an outside dig at the sticks, Samuel repeated his undaunted approach to patrolling the catch point. He understood that the cornerback has an equal opportunity to the ball as the receiver and confirmed his eagerness to jostle for control of the catch point angle.
Later, in the same game, Samuel forced an incompletion due to his sheer violence at the catch point. Despite his status as an undersized outside cornerback, Samuel’s play strength is far from lacking, and he competes with maximum intensity on every rep. He is magnetic to the ball and never takes a snap off.
Staley selected Samuel to be his version of Jalen Ramsey, the cornerback he coached as defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. Ramsey is unique because, along with his elite coverage skills in both man and zone coverage, he can transfer his talents to the slot. Ramsey can contribute at the same caliber despite the quickness and change of direction skills required to play as the nickel cornerback.
Samuel is expected to be the same switch-hitter for the Chargers. Although the team brought Bryce Callahan to play on downs out of the base defense set, Samuel allows Staley the flexibility and versatility greatly desired in football’s modern-day fortification. By flexing Samuel to the slot, Staley can be more creative with his safeties and blitz packages. Pressure will be able to materialize from any direction.
The poise of Samuel is also a big reason he is primed for a breakout in his second year. He does not gamble in coverage and commits a small number of mental errors. Yet, he can be trusted to hold his own without safety help. That is how Florida State operated with Samuel in the lineup by the end of his career in Tallahassee. Eventually, the Chargers will also give him more isolation opportunities so the defense can accelerate the clocks of quarterbacks with James and Adderley.
With a clean slate ahead of him, expect a healthy Samuel to cement himself as a bonafide playmaker for the Chargers and his rare combination of athleticism and instincts to become a weekly terror for quarterbacks to throw against.
