[MTK]

If it came down to giving big money to Smoot or Samuels, I wouldn't even think twice about giving it to Samuels each and every time.

The defense finished 3rd overall last year, they're not the unit that's in need of improvement.

Losing a key cog to the offensive line would hurt us a hell of a lot more than losing a corner like Smoot. Last year we lost one of the top 3 corners in the league in Bailey, and we managed to survive just fine.

On the other hand just look at what happened when we lost one of our top lineman in Jansen last year. The offensive line was never quite the same as we shuffled the lineup week to week as pass protection suffered as did the run blocking.

Samuels is a top 10 left tackle, and with Gibbs' emphasis on running the football and protecting the QB, as the saying goes it all starts up front.

Samuels gets his share of criticism, and sometimes it is justified. He may never be mentioned in the same breath as Pace, Jones and Ogden, but he's right on the edge of that upper echelon and under Bugel he very well could regain his Pro Bowl form.