Asante Samuel now is ready to build on his outstanding 2006 season.
Insisting he’s happy his holdout is over and he has a one-year, $7.79 million contract, the Patriots cornerback was at practice Tuesday.
Last year, the best of his first four since New England drafted him in 2003, he tied Champ Bailey of Denver for the NFL lead with 10 interceptions and picked off two more passes in the playoffs.
“I’ve been a competitor since I was born. Everything I do I want to be the best at,” Samuel said. “I want to leave a legacy. I want Asante Samuel to be a stone in the NFL when I leave this game. I’m going to work hard and leave it out on the line and make plays like I know how to make plays.”
him for the season.
Samuel likely will return to the starting spot that Randall Gay has been filling in training camp.
Titans
DT Corey Simon had his first workout with the team.
“Oh gosh, it feels great,” Simon said. “A little rusty, but I felt good just getting out and running around and being with the guys. That’s what you miss most when you’re away from the game. You miss the camaraderie in the locker room, and so it’s great to get back out here.”
Drafted sixth overall in 2000 by the Eagles, Simon spent five seasons there. In September 2005 he signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the Colts, and collected $14 million for 13 games played that season.
After spending the first four games of 2006 deactivated, the Colts placed him on the non-football injury/illness list with an undisclosed ailment. The Colts finally released him Aug. 4 after he failed a physical.
Simon has 311 tackles, 32 sacks, seven forced fumbles and three fumbles recovered in 91 career games.
“Every once in a while in the league there are some unique things that happen,” Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. “This happens to be a case we were able to take advantage of.”
Steelers
DE Brett Keisel is appealing a $12,500 fine for a low hit on Washington quarterback Jason Campbell during an Aug. 18 preseason game.
Campbell bruised a knee and was taken out of the game, but was not seriously hurt. He expects to play Thursday night against Jacksonville in the Redskins’ final exhibition game.
“I didn’t think I would get one (a fine) but I did,” Keisel said Tuesday. “I guess they’ve got to throw the flag when you’re messing around with the quarterback’s feet. I’ll appeal it and we’ll see what happens.”
Asked what his defense would be, Keisel said, “I was playing ball.”
“All I did was make an inside move,” Keisel said. “I tripped and I saw that he still had the ball and I went to make a play. If he would have held onto the ball, it would have been a sack. But he threw the ball and it was a penalty.”
Also, WR Hines Ward missed practice Tuesday after breaking his nose in an exhibition game Sunday. But he isn’t expected to miss the Sept. 9 opener at Cleveland.
Ravens
Ten-time Pro Bowl tackle Jonathan Ogden passed his physical and was added to the active roster after missing most of training camp with turf toe. Ogden practiced Tuesday for the first time since last season.
Ogden said he hopes to be ready for the season opener at Cincinnati.
Ogden played in a playoff loss to the Colts in January after missing the last two regular-season games, but needed a painkiller to get through the game and aggravated his injured left big toe.
Ogden pondered retirement, but decided in April to return for at least one more season.
Giants
Veteran long-snapper Ryan Kuehl will miss the season because of a calf injury. It marked the second time in five years with the Giants that Kuehl will miss a season because of an injury. An elbow problem sidelined him in 2003.
Rookie linebacker Zak DeOssie will handle the snaps on punts, and rookie defensive tackle Jay Alford will snap on field goals and extra points.
Kuehl was hurt after making a snap in a non-contact punting drill in the opening days of training camp about a month ago.
Broncos
Denver cut two starters from last year: DE Kenard Lang and punter Paul Ernster. The Broncos also placed wide receiver Rod Smith, their career receptions and touchdowns leader, on the physically unable to perform list on Tuesday. Smith is recovering from offseason hip surgery.
Among other notable cuts were wide receiver-returner David Kircus, who is facing an assault charge stemming from an offseason fight, and defensive lineman Demetrin Veal, who played in 31 games for the Broncos over the last two seasons.
Lang, an 11th-year pro, started all 16 games in 2006 after Courtney Brown suffered a season-ending injury in camp. But he slid down the depth chart when the Broncos used three of their four draft picks in April on defensive linemen.
Jaguars
Jacksonville claimed LB Roy Manning off waivers and released LB Chris Claiborne, who signed a one-year contract with the Jaguars on Sunday.
Manning was waived by Buffalo on Monday. The 6-foot-2, 245-pounder originally signed with Green Bay as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2005. He started two games for the Packers and played one game for Houston last year before being released in October.
The Jaguars are thin at linebacker.
Jets
LB Matt Chatham was moved from the active-physically unable to perform list to the reserve-PUP list. Chatham can’t practice with the team or play during the first six weeks of the regular season. Chatham has been hobbled by a foot injury and didn’t participate in training camp or minicamp.
Chiefs
Kevin Sampson, a sometime starter at offensive tackle whose career has been hampered by injuries, was released. Sampson played in 16 games, starting seven, in three years with the Chiefs. His 2006 season ended early when he had back surgery in December.
Browns
Center LeCharles Bentley’s comeback has been delayed. Cleveland placed Bentley on the physically unable to perform list to give his surgically repaired knee more time to heal.
Bentley has yet to practice, but hasn’t given up on playing this season and had hoped to begin practicing with the team by the end of August.
“He’s disappointed, but because we sat down and we talked about it – he’s been in my office every week – he appreciates my concern,” coach Romeo Crennel said.
A two-time Pro Bowl selection with New Orleans, Bentley signed a six-year, $36 million contract in March 2006 to join his hometown team, then tore his left patellar tendon on the first full-contact play of Cleveland’s training camp last summer.
Following surgery to repair the tendon, a staph infection attacked the knee and Bentley needed three more surgeries. Bentley has said that doctors considered amputating his leg at one point.
He was cleared to return to the playing field in July.
Colts
Guard Rick DeMulling, a six-year veteran, is looking for a job. A former starter with the Colts, he was cut Tuesday.
DeMulling, a seventh-round draft pick in 2001, started 41 games in three seasons with Indianapolis before leaving as a free agent to sign with the Lions. He returned to the Colts, their only significant free agent acquisition this year, after spending two years in Detroit.
Redskins
Veteran DT Joe Salave’a was released. Salave’a started 13 games for the 2005 team that made the playoffs, but he has been hindered by several injuries – calf, foot, heel, thigh, knee – during each of his three seasons with the Redskins. He has not played in all 16 games in any of his eight NFL seasons.
Salave’a’s questionable durability put the 32-year-old lineman on the bubble entering training camp, and the emergence of second-year players Kedric Golston and Anthony Montgomery and first-year player Lorenzo Alexander made him expendable.
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