Asante Samuel talks with the media in the locker room yesterday after signing a one-year $7.79-million guaranteed contract with the Patriots.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

FOXBORO — Asante Samuel was all smiles yesterday as he settled into the New England Patriots’ locker room for the first time this season.

The 26-year-old cornerback signed his one-year guaranteed franchise tender late Monday night, after arriving at Gillette Stadium earlier that day. Samuel didn’t sign the contract right away because he and his representatives, Alonzo Shavers and Jay Bianco, tried one last time to get New England brass to agree not to franchise Samuel again next season. It is not yet known whether the Pats agreed to such a deal.

Samuel seemed to indicate that there may have been some compromise made. When asked what was different now from four weeks ago — when training camp started — Samuel replied, “I’m here. Both sides made an agreement and both sides are happy.”

The reporter replied that Samuel could have gotten the same $7.79-million deal last month, but the corner shot back, “How do you know? I’m not going to answer that.”

Regardless of the final details in his deal, Samuel was pleased and glad to be back among his teammates and the only team he has known as a professional.

“Both sides are happy. I’m good. I’m ready to play football,” he said.

The former fourth-round draft pick, beginning his fifth season in the NFL, has been working out near his Florida home since the end of his breakout season in January. But he acknowledged, and coach Bill Belichick confirmed, that working out is not the same as on-field work.

The rest of the players have “been here working for over a month,” Belichick said. “I’m sure that he’ll work hard to make up that ground. They’ve been here practicing and doing all of the things they do. I know he’s been doing things on his own, but it’s not quite the same. He’ll just have to make up that ground.”

“You always have to earn your spot,” Samuel replied when asked if he will have to regain his spot on the starting defense. “I have to earn my keep and I’m here to do that and I have no problem with that.”

Samuel no doubt will be helped by his experience in the New England system. He has played in 59 of 64 regular-season games in his career, starting 39. Last year, he plucked 10 interceptions in the regular season, the most for a New England player since Ron Hall had a franchise-record 11 in 1964.

He added two more picks — both returned for touchdowns — in the playoffs. His three career postseason interception returns for touchdowns ties him with Hall-of-Famer Willie Brown, who played with Denver and Oakland.

In his stead, Ellis Hobbs and Randall Gay have manned the cornerback spots.

Despite the previous months — his agents and New England were not able to come to a long-term deal before the July deadline and at one point, Samuel threatened to hold out until the 10th week of the season — Samuel expressed a desire to remain in New England for the rest of his career and said he actually missed two-a-days.

“As much as you think being home and not being in that sun is [preferable] ... I really did miss it. I missed joking around with the guys in the locker room and cutting a fool and going out and working hard,” he said. “I really did miss it.”

He’ll be working double-time to make up for lost time, so it may not be long until Samuel doesn’t feel that way.

Samuel was not spotted on the practice field yesterday during the media access period, and may not yet have taken and/or passed his conditioning run, required of all players. He did not know if he’d be playing in tomorrow’s exhibition season finale or the regular-season opener in New York, referring those questions to Belichick.

But he was clearly happy, and said so several times during his interview. He said he had no regrets about the way things had played out, and even learned a thing or two during the process.

“I just learned to be patient and pray about it and put it in God’s hands,” he said. “There’s no winner and no loser. We got it done and I’m here.”

smanza@projo.com