In any big free agent race, there's always one team you never expect. And in a race for former Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha that had the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys as the primary suitors (to the point that the Jets had asked several veterans to re-structure their contracts), the Philadelphia Eagles jumped in at the last minute, just after the 6:01 PM ET Friday deadline to get the deal done.
Several sources confirm the deal, and Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that the deal is for five years and $60 million, with $25 million guaranteed.
In the last few years, Asomugha has become the NFL's equivalent of the Old West gunfighter so revered by the competition that he rarely has to draw his weapon. According to any group of stats you'd care to mention, he's been among the lowest-targeted qualifying cornerbacks in the league in each of the last few years. In fact, at Football Outsiders, we've had to lower our baseline for targets just to get Asomugha in our regular starter stats.
When I recently asked Raiders cornerback Stanford Routt (who will replace Asomugha as the Raiders' primary pass defender) what the veteran taught him, Routt responded, "It's more like, what didn't he teach me?"
"In the scheme we play, it really is more mental than anything. When you go out there on Sundays … I remember one of my college coaches telling me, 'Get to your technique quicker than your opponent,'" Routt told me. "That's where Nnamdi's success comes from; he's always the most prepared man on the field. He didn't teach me how to run a 40 [laughs], but that's about the only thing he didn't teach me. The main thing I learned from him is that when you step out on that field, everybody has their own ways of doing things, but you have to have confidence. If you don't believe that you can go out there and get it done, you've already lost before you even start."
Just yesterday, the Eagles traded quarterback Kevin Kolb for, among other assets, cornerback Dominique Rogers-Cromartie. This may put veteran cornerback Asante Samuel on the market, which could be good news for teams that wind up losing the sweepstakes for Asomugha, Johnathan Joseph, and Antonio Cromartie.
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Shutdown Corner is an NFL blog edited by Matthew J. Darnell. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.
