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Defense finds its leader

(05-10) 17:52 PDT -- Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha looked at quarterback JaMarcus Russell and asked the most incredulous of questions.

"You coming at me? You coming at me?"

Asomugha turned his attention to wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, treating the No. 7 overall draft pick like some undrafted free agent.

"I didn't even know what his number was," Asomugha said with a straight face and all.

Imagine that. After all these years, the quiet scholar from Cal really does have a little Charles Woodson in him.

Swagger, confidence, some well-informed trash talk for good measure. Asomugha can walk and talk like Woodson these days. He just made his first Pro Bowl start and signed the richest per-year contract in NFL history.

"That's a lot of money," Woodson told Asomugha, his close friend and former teammate, after Asomugha accepted a three-year, $45.3 million contract in February, with $28.5 guaranteed.

It comes with a lot of expectations, and Asomugha delivered throughout the three-day, five-practice minicamp that ended Sunday.

He swatted down passes, at least within those handful of times Russell threw in his general vicinity. He gave instructions, particularly to Heyward-Bey after the rookie gave away a pass route with his eyes.

Asomugha talked playbook shop with new cornerbacks coach Lionel Washington. He held court with reporters until they ran out of questions about why on earth he re-signed with the Raiders after losing 72 games in his first six NFL seasons in Oakland.

Let Russell continue to learn how to become a team leader on the offensive side of the ball. The defense has its own leader perfectly in place.

"As you gain experience and you get a little bit older, you gain respect," Raiders coach Tom Cable said. "Not only by your teammates, but around the league. People expect you to lead them and for you to be that example. I think that's what you're seeing. It's, 'This contract thing is out of the way now and I'm going to prove what I am. I have the responsibility to lead this football team.' "

Yeah, so about that contract ...

"We thought it was over," Asomugha said. "I was waiting to get tagged."

Near the end of last season, Asomugha made two things clear to management as he headed into unrestricted free agency: He didn't want to get franchise tagged a second time like Woodson once was, and he didn't want to go through yet another coaching change.

To that end, Raiders owner Al Davis hired interim coach Tom Cable. He then told Asomugha's agent to throw out a long-term contract number.

"You'd rather be here amicably than fighting," Asomugha said. "I was going to be here, so let's make it right."

So there. No unwanted one-year deals, no "franchised for life" jokes, no hard feelings. The Raiders are all his, by freewill choice and not forced labor.

Now, they're going to have to hear all about it. Just ask Heyward-Bey, who knew full well what number Asomugha was wearing when he lined up for the first time as a Raider.

"He's a student of the game," Heyward-Bey said. "If I can learn like he did, I think I'll be good."

BY David White, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 10, 2009

Damn, that's what I like to see, Aso getting "hard" with the opposition.

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