Nnamdi Asomugha: Pursue or No? Part 2: What Kind of Team Would Make Him Worth It?

by John B on Jan 27, 2011 12:00 PM EST

When one of the top two cover corners in the league hits the market in his prime, he is sure to command a hefty price. Guys like Asante Samuel, Nate Clements, Dunta Robinson, and Kelvin Hayden have received contracts in recent seasons paying them an average of over $9 million per year. None of those guys is a shutdown corner. They are decent players but nowhere near the Revis-Asomugha level. Asomugha could command the $15-16 million annual salary from his last contract in Oakland and the average of the first two seasons of Revis' deal.

Would he be worth it? That is a relative question. A better question would be what kind of team has such a premium on cornerback play that it would make sense. Let's start out with teams for which it would not make sense. That includes any team that runs primarily zone coverage packages. Zone defense asks corners to cover a limited space. A lot of guys can do that well. We can also rule out a cover 2 team. Those teams have corners receiving constant safety help deep. Again, many corners can play well underneath.

The kind of team that could best utilize a guy like Asomugha is an attacking, blitzing defense that leaves corners alone in man coverage without much help. They need corners who can stay with receivers and not get beaten because this kind of scheme puts a ton of stress on the defense. It is very difficult to stay with one man for a long time so corners capable of doing this are worth a lot.

On paper, that would indicate the Jets are a good fit. There is another factor, though. The Jets are already paying a corner, Darrelle Revis, top dollar. Revis takes the best receiver on the other team. Number two receivers are not as good. It does not require as good of a corner to take on those kinds of receivers. Would giving Asomugha top dollar and tying up that kind of money in one position really be the wisest investment? The Jets have to focus on building a complete team. Perhaps saving the money by buying a lesser corner who could do the job and investing the money elsewhere would make the team more complete.

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I am only in favor of bringing in Asomugha if we’ve already got plans for or have locked up Edwards, Holmes and at least one slight upgrade at DE or OLB.

by SioneBAAOOOHA on Jan 27, 2011 12:10 PM EST reply actions

Sounds like a plan. A good one.

by JetKing55 on Jan 27, 2011 1:03 PM EST up reply actions

I want Nnamdi but...

I’ve said it everywhere we have this discussion. The only way I’ll take him, is if he plays for Cro’s salary. I can choke that down no problem.

And you want to know why? Because there is going to be a rookie salary cap, I know this I believe this to be true. So no psycho Bradford contracts out there in the world for us to take in later. Cromartie is a RFA, you hawk him off for a 2nd in this draft (hopefully), maybe a 3rd. That gives us some leverage to power up in the draft. Assuming we get a 2nd or 3rd we take a Pass Rushing DE out in the 1st, an OLB or two in the 2nd/3rd and the 3rd, and start giving us some young blood to give us the pass rush we need to make those two effective. Because think about it, we upgrade the front 7 with some fresh meat, and then it forces teams to have to target their 3rd/4th WRs and TEs to get plays, and since we know that’s their focus Rex and put everyone else not blitzing on them.

And the home of the .... JETS!!!
Now lets get a G-D snack!!!

by Noble_Lance on Jan 27, 2011 12:38 PM EST reply actions

I didn’t watch a ton of raiders games this or last year but from what I’ve seen nnamdi plays primarily zone.. like a shameful amount of basic hook-zone drops.. he rarely played trail man, and even less against opponents #1 receivers.

I’m not saying he can’t be an elite no-over man to man corner. I’m just saying lets slow down in calling him a top 2 or 3 corner because his play doesn’t warrant that label. He is a top 3 corner in the AFC west though.. so thats something.

As for him on the jets… no thanks. I’ve never seen a player go from criminally under-rated to horrifically over-rated in so fast a time (and not because he’s changed on the field, only the media/fan perspective of him). He is a great football player but the opportunity cost is way too high.

by HaffisonM on Jan 27, 2011 12:52 PM EST reply actions

your right

you didn’t watch a lot of raiders games .
stevie wonder could tell you he is a top 3 corner in the nfl

by tinley24 on Jan 27, 2011 1:05 PM EST up reply actions

there is a reason

he’s been all-pro 3 years in a row, it isnt a accident. the only thing im worried about with N.A is that no one throws to him, i mean no one, but it could be part of this reason is that you can easily beat their 2nd and 3rd corner.

"it's not easy being green"-kermit the frog
"we the mets are an improved ball club, now we lose in extra innings"-casy stengal
i cant spell a nosebleed

by rexthejet on Jan 27, 2011 1:23 PM EST up reply actions

Thats not us calling him that, thats the league. He just made all pro for the second year in a row.

by BIG OH!!!!! on Jan 27, 2011 1:25 PM EST up reply actions

oops, didn't mean the overkill

by BIG OH!!!!! on Jan 27, 2011 1:29 PM EST up reply actions

I didn’t watch a ton of raiders games this or last year but from what I’ve seen nnamdi plays primarily zone..

That’s not so.

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by John B on Jan 27, 2011 2:23 PM EST up reply actions

Your right that the raiders play a lot of man to man. I was incorrect.

Anyways, like I said I haven’t seen much tape of him (tough to get raiders games in the ny area) but a quick scan of the interweb to reinforce some of my points;

-stanford routt and the rest of the oakland corners = very good. The idea that people avoided nnamdi because the rest of their corners are weak isn’t true.

source: http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/36278/no-burn-zone-in-oakland

- “In Raiders’ games in 2009, the opposing teams #1 wide receiver was targeted 113 times. Nnamdi was only covering them 13% of this time… On the other side of the coin, the #1 wide receiver was targeted 109 times against the Jets and Revis was there to cover them 78% of the time.”
From last year but still relevant.. and a possible explanation as to why teams avoided him- there best recievers were on the other side of the field.

source: http://www.xtrapointfootball.com/20100804486/2010-archives/august/darrelle-revis-vs-nnamdi-asomugha.html

-lastly his advanced metrics are impressive.. but not top 2 or 3 corner in the league impressive.

source: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/player/15343/nnamdi-asomugha

by HaffisonM on Jan 27, 2011 4:11 PM EST up reply actions

Revis covers the #1 mostlty bc that’s where we put him. The opponent can’t avoid him. The fact the raiders opponents put their #1 away from nnamdi, despite that their other corner is very good, says a lot imo.

by Crackback on Jan 27, 2011 4:22 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

it depends how much $ he'll command

if, as john says, he’ll be at $15-16 a yr, then no way. if at $13-16 i think we should def take a look. cro is gonna want at least $9 and i dont even think he’s really worth that. if aso can go for $11 and te diff is only 2-3 a yr i say we go for it and let someone else who’ll make 2-3 go. at 13 also we can stretch it. the reward of getting aso’ll be huge. we’d basically ave the best corner tandem of all time. we saw what happened in the pats gm where revis and cro each took one side in man coverage and left everyone else free to cover the rest of the receivers. we would be able to do that every wk. this would in part help our pass rush issues greatly b/c you dont need as much of a pass rush when nobody is open. it’s a trickle down effect. besides for the fact that the top 2wr’s on the other team wont be open, the other reeivers will be less likely to be open b/c we’ll have more resources to devote to those players. it would also allow to send extra blitzers from the secondary if we would so desire. if the price is right i’d jump at aso

metsjetsknicksrangers.............can it get any worse?

by dabu7 on Jan 27, 2011 1:15 PM EST reply actions

nnamdi or cro

did cro help us this year ? yes he was way better that former pro bowl corner lito sheppard opposite revis. how much would cro want to resign? 9 -12m .for me if you are going to pay that type of money on a corner playing opposite revis then nnamdi is the player i want .
how much better is nnamdi over cro? way better is my oponion .
how do teams gameplan change if we had nnamdi over cro? cro doesn’t instill the same fear as nnamdi on opposing teams

by tinley24 on Jan 27, 2011 1:15 PM EST reply actions

very much agreed

let’s just say that brandon marshall and pierre garcon wouldnt kill aso. aso prob doesnt grab opposing recivers all day long. i think aso is clearly worth a few mil more than cro. the question is whether we have that $ to spend or not

metsjetsknicksrangers.............can it get any worse?

by dabu7 on Jan 27, 2011 1:18 PM EST up reply actions

N.A

is way better than cro. i realy wasnt impressed at all. N.A is simillar to cro, just N.A does everything much better, including tackling

"it's not easy being green"-kermit the frog
"we the mets are an improved ball club, now we lose in extra innings"-casy stengal
i cant spell a nosebleed

by rexthejet on Jan 27, 2011 1:26 PM EST up reply actions

The Jets have an interesting situation no other team really has. Ordinarily the number 2 receiver can be kept in check by the average-good corner because he is targeted so many less times than their number 1. Here the number one is barely looked at and the majority of throws go to the number 2 receiver. I reckon Nnamdi would be a great fit here because if kyle wilson improves to the average corner, the number 1,2, and 3 receiver would be blanketed. The ‘but’ here is money. If cro asks for for a significant amount less than nnamdi than I’d prefer to go with cro. He has his up and down games but he is solid for the most part and that money could be used to lock up holmes edwards or harris.

by flixenuz on Jan 27, 2011 1:19 PM EST reply actions

N.A and revis

thats like a dream. and if we add some pass rushers in the draft, wow.

"it's not easy being green"-kermit the frog
"we the mets are an improved ball club, now we lose in extra innings"-casy stengal
i cant spell a nosebleed

by rexthejet on Jan 27, 2011 1:28 PM EST reply actions

Other Teams Will Out bid

Teams that are a few players away and depending on CBA will snatch this up.
Atlanta after being picked apart by Green Bay is one team that jumps to mind—for them Tony Gonzalez and Abraham come off the payroll either this year or next—so they can afford to do this.

by ATL Jetsbaby on Jan 27, 2011 1:50 PM EST reply actions

they're also already paying a boatload to dunta robinson as well

keep in mind that robinson was not playing in that gm due to injury. they’re roughly in the same boat as the jets in terms of dishing out $ to cb’s

metsjetsknicksrangers.............can it get any worse?

by dabu7 on Jan 27, 2011 2:07 PM EST up reply actions

the article is not not about the Jets getting him, but is it worth it to pursue him

by BIG OH!!!!! on Jan 27, 2011 2:17 PM EST up reply actions

grimes is FA

by ATL Jetsbaby on Jan 27, 2011 4:38 PM EST reply actions

No way Jets want this guy - No need

Sure he is a good to great player but his skills are redundant with Revis’. Why spend that kind of money for the ability to shut down teams with two premier wideouts when no such teams exist, except maybe the jets themselves? Plus, what’s wrong with Cromartie other than he talks and procreates a bit too much? Also, is Kyle Wilson a bust already? With the current stacked secondary the Jets should be worrying more about upgrading their run and pass defense. I’d like to see MT make one of his patented moves in this direction come draft day.

The Landryman Can

by YuckFou on Jan 27, 2011 6:57 PM EST reply actions