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DarkDays · #1 (**permalink**) March 20th, 2009

Newly-rich Asomugha setting the pace for NFL on, off field
By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY
The face of the Oakland Raiders is not third-year quarterback JaMarcus Russell's. It actually is Nnamdi Asomugha, the 27-year-old Pro Bowl cornerback with shutdown cover skills and an older soul's community conscience.

Asomugha is as comfortable locking down elite receivers as he will be looking up Bill Clinton at the former president's Harlem, N.Y., office next month as he leads a recruiting trip of 10 disadvantaged East Oakland high school students seeking college scholarships they might otherwise never receive.

How good is Asomugha (pronounced awe-some-WAH) on the field?

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Consider how three-time league MVP and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning introduced the Raider to his father, Archie, at the Pro Bowl.

"Peyton said to his dad, 'I want you to meet Nnamdi, the absolute best shutdown corner in the league. If you don't believe me, go watch our 2007 game against him,' " Asomugha recalls. "Peyton threw at me twice. And Reggie Wayne made his catch against me with one hand.

"People were telling me at the Pro Bowl, 'You had (Wayne) blanketed, and the only way he could make that catch was with one hand.' "

Asomugha stands 6-2 and, at 210 pounds, has safety size. He has 4.38-second speed for 40 yards and a passion for education and activism worthy of a United Nation's representative.

He raised his profile Feb. 14-15 when he was the lone professional athlete invited to the second annual Clinton Global Initiative at the University of Texas in Austin. Asomugha spoke on a panel with Clinton, actor Matthew McConaughey and Marie Tillman, widow of late Army Ranger and former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, that addressed 1,200 international students and university presidents.

"I am delighted that Nnamdi participated in our Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting in Austin, where he joined more than 1,000 students and nearly 70 university presidents to take action on the pressing issues facing our local and global communities," Clinton said in an e-mail. "Nnamdi is an outstanding young man whose exceptional talents on the football field are outshone only by his efforts to make a difference in the lives of others."

Such praise is no surprise to newly elected Hall of Famer and former Raiders secondary mate Rod Woodson, who says, "Nnamdi is a special guy, the best in the business."

Introspective Asomugha is arguably the Deion Sanders of his day, minus Sanders' "Prime Time" moniker, 53 career interceptions (Asomugha has 10) and drum-major struts. But Asomugha wears his boyhood idol's No. 21 and can take away half of the field a la Sanders. But he prefers to let his play do his talking.

"Every corner has that inner Deion inside of them," he says. "It may surprise you, but I have some Deion in me. Some corners are so outward with it, and some are inward.

"When I say I have that Deion in me, I mean that same confidence. It's borderline arrogance. You're telling that receiver, 'There's nothing you can do against me.' And I have that same arrogance.

"I don't speak it, and I don't show it. But it's definitely inside me."

Asomugha set the gold standard for his position when he received a three-year, $45.3 million contact last month. His average annual salary of more than $15 million surpasses Manning's previous league-high best of $14 million a year.

That's good news for Asomugha's peers and newcomers, such as Ohio State's Malcolm Jenkins, who will be drafted into the league next month.

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"You look at this guy — the way he's played the last two years and with Champ Bailey being hurt last year in Denver — (and) Nnamdi is the class of the cornerback position, and he got a contract that was deservingly so," CBS analyst Shannon Sharpe says. "You love to see a guy who works his tail off, keeps his mouth shut and is as good off the field get rewarded."

While some general managers are upset that a cornerback makes quarterback money, Asomugha's younger contemporaries are thrilled.

"Nnamdi's contract is good for us cornerbacks," says New York Jets Pro Bowl corner Darrelle Revis. "The bar can only keep going higher and higher. I thank Nnamdi for that."

At the Pro Bowl, where relaxed rules prevent cornerbacks from jamming wideouts within the permissible 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, Manning and Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler tested Asomugha during the week of practice.

Want to guess what happened? They learned why so many QBs have avoided his side of the field.

Asomugha effortlessly jumped Manning's deep post-pattern pass intended for Broncos wideout Brandon Marshall. Asomugha also picked off Cutler on a throw intended for Houston Texans receiver Andre Johnson.

"It's the most work I've gotten in the last three years," Asomugha laughs. "With the rules relaxed, Peyton and Jay were like, 'Let's see if we can get him in off coverage.' I've been able to hold up pretty well."

Small wonder why Asomugha earned his landmark pact. Slated for free agency heading into this offseason, his deal was hammered out to lock up the shutdown corner prized by Raiders owner Al Davis, who used the franchise tag on Asomugha in 2008 and covets his stifling pass-defense skills.

"Man-to-man coverage is somewhat of a lost art," Asomugha says. "When you look at Green Bay and Oakland, you know man coverage is what we're playing.

"Myself and (current Packers and former Raiders corner) Charles Woodson talk all the time about it. I know how much Mr. Davis values the ability to play man-to-man."

And Asomugha was aggressive in honing his craft early in his career.

Rod Woodson was with Asomugha during his rookie season in Oakland and says the 2003 first-round draft pick from the University of California was the lone rookie to seek him out. "In my 17 years in the league, he was the one kid who asked, 'What do you have for me?' " Woodson says.

"He's the only guy who ever asked to come over to my house, put a DVD on and study technique."

A big reason Asomugha hasn't gotten more attention — "You don't get noticed playing in Oakland sometimes," Rod Woodson says — is Oakland's 24-72 record during his six-year career.

Says Marshall, "I can't say Nnamdi's the best in the game because I'm on the same team with Champ Bailey. But Nnamdi is a shutdown corner. Quarterbacks and coaches are scared of him."