"Several players remain in contact with Asante Samuel, who left the Patriots this offseason to sign a six-year, $57 million free agent deal with Philadelphia.

The Pro Bowl cornerback will be making his initial return to Gillette Stadium tomorrow when the Pats host the Eagles in their third preseason game.

“I talked to him the other day. He’s doing great. Wouldn’t you, $60 million richer?” Rodney Harrison [stats] said yesterday when asked about his former teammate and secondary partner. “He’s doing wonderful.”

Samuel suffered a hamstring injury the first day of training camp but has since returned to practice and is expected to play tomorrow night at Gillette.

Harrison was reminded of the jinx that typically follows Patriots players who leave the fold and never fare as well outside of Foxboro. Harrison thought that notion was a bunch of garbage.

“He’s a tremendous player. He’s going to be a tremendous player no matter what uniform he puts on,” Harrison said. “It’s a story for you guys (the media) to sit back and hate on him and wish that he does terrible because he didn’t sign here. But all in all, he’s a friend of ours. We wish him the best. Business is business. Sometimes you can sign a guy. Sometimes you can’t. You don’t worry about things you can’t control.”"