Earlier today, we found out that the Oakland Raiders wisely (**rolls eyes**) signed 32-year old Richard Seymour to a huge new contract. I mean, really big. Jim Trotter of SI.com thinks that it’s a two-year deal with $22.5 million guaranteed, with incentives that could get it up to $30 million. However, Jason La Canfora of NFL Network is hearing that it’s a four -year deal.
As with most things, the truth is probably somewhere in between. But, regardless, it’s a ton of money. So, can they retain Nnamdi Asomugha at this point?
Eagles fans sure hope not.
Stanford Routt and Michael Huff are two other players in the secondary who are set to be free agents. Will the Raiders hold on to them? And what about TE Zach Miller, who started off brilliantly this season before falling off of a cliff and killing my fantasy team? Most indications are now that he’ll get the franchise tag, which couldn’t be used on Nnamdi anyway.
My point is, the Raiders have a lot of issues to address, and keeping a guy who was set to make $16.8 million in 2011 (and he made $17 million in 2010) before his contract voided might not be attainable. Of course I’m mentioning all of this because the Eagles could/should be major players in trying to retain Asomugha’s services. While we never know for sure who the Eagles will be targeting, this one fits the profile of a typical Eagles move.
It’s not only a position that they value highly, it’s also a position that was woefully deficient in 2010. That is, unless you were happy with the play of Dimitri Patterson and Ellis Hobbs.
Not many were expecting Asomugha to stay in Oakland (not easy to stomach that much losing over that long of a period of time), but based on what Seymour just got, I think it’d be tough to have two guys on one side of the ball raking in that much coin, when you have other needs on the team.
This could be very good news for the Eagles down the road. Imagine having a shutdown corner on one side of the field and forcing teams to go have fun with Asante Samuel.
“Nnamdi wants to play elsewhere.” according to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King
Nnamdi wants to goto a contender, which narrows it down to probably about 10 teams give or take. The eagles are sure to be in consideration. I’m curious to see how much money plays a role in his decision being that hes had his large payday already.
Raiders also hired former CB HOF player Rod Woodson as Def Secondary
Coach.. I think he ends up remaining with the Raiders with the Jets or Redskins,
or maybe the Falcons as possible landing spots, but it won’t be Philly
What makes you say it won’t be Philly, Paulman?
The $$$ Walken,
The Eagles will not pay a 30 year old, the kind of $$$ he is looking for…
The Redskins will probably offer the most and the Jets could be a player
if the let Cromartie walk… and don’t count out the Houston Texans who are in dire need of a CB and especially playing against the Colts & Manning twice a year
The Eagles have plenty of money for this guy.
Jets…no..we have a better offense and we’re just as much of a contender. Jets are gonna dump some money to there own FA(re-sign Antonio) and there not a player. Skins…he said he wanted to go to a contender..not a pretender. Texans..no way…they suck.
Eagles are top player in this sweepstakes…everythign about this guy screams Eagles goin after him. Over 30 or not….he is legt…HOFer.
He was thrown at 19 times…..19 TIMES……thats 19 times in 16 games…and he didnt play in a couple.Eli would be so afraid of him it would be priceless.Dude has 11 picks in his career? He’s a gym rat and a quality locker room guy. ink him and lets do this…
Go phills
Erock, agreeed.
Paulman, of course your reasoning (in this case) is understandable. But I’m not convinced that the Eagles FO has hard rules that they follow. I don’t think they would sit down and talk Namdi, and say, well he breaks the 30 rule so that’s it, lets move on. Nope. I think they’d say ‘let’s evaluate everything and make the best decision for the team’. And I can personally picture a press conference after signing him where they say, sure he’s over 30, but we really think he can make this football team better. He’s a special player who changes games. I can picture that. I’m not saying I think they are going to sign him or not, I just don’t think that the 30 rule is inflexible. They’re in power, they can make any decision they want whether or not it fits with their past trends.
Listenting to Banner in 2-3 different interviews this week, he has stated that they are looking for value aquisitions to improve the overall depth and that he
has a strong belief that the Coaching Changes will improve a lot of the young players already on the Eagles Roster as opposed to going out and picking up
top players… I just don’t see it happening this off-season..
Defensively the Eagles have 4-5 Free-Agents that they have to decide on what to do and for how much $$$, the length of deals for players like Bradley, Mickell, Dmitri Patterson, A Jordan… I think they let Sims and Gaither walk and probably lose Mikell to a higher bidder from one of the following teams (Panthers,Cowboys,Saints or Texans)
Offensively, the Eagles have to decide on what to do with Free-Agents
Cole,MJG,Schmitt, J Jackson, J Harrison and then they have contract deals to work out wit Vick, maybe D-Jax & L McCoy to keep them in tow & happy
I do agree that maybe the 30 year old rule doesn’t always apply to certain players who have been injury free and take good care of themselves like Asmogoah has, but from the past actions and recent comments, I just can’t see them pursuing the highest profile and most expensive player out on the market who will command a higher salary than they are willing to pay at his current age..
I think Banner & Co think this Eagle team is just some minor tweaks away from a Super Bowl Contender.. (I don’t agree personally with this) but I think they feel with Samuel,Patterson,Hanson,Lindley and another high draft pick
in this years draft with the new Coaching, that they will be ok there at CB..
Paul, you put stock in what Banner says? Do you take other salesmen for their word too?
Believe it or not Schiller,
I tend to believe Banners statements more than anyone else in the Eagles
organization..
Paul, I’m glad you told me that, it helps me understand your reasoning.
But hey, let’s think of it in context. What incentive does Banner have to reveal all his cards honestly to the media at any given time? 0. Ok, then what incentive does Banner have to say what he has to to keep selling his franchise/tow the company line? A TON.
I’m not calling the guy a scumbag or liar, but I’m just looking at the context.
When you walk into a store and someone greets you with a smile offering help, they’re not interested in your friendship or genuinely into you.
Think context. He’s gotta speak to the media, it’s par for the course of his job.
Ok then, if you believe Banners statements, tell me what he said (without ignoring other things he said)? He stated nothing definitive, left all windows/doors open.
He said what I have posted already,but let me put it in a more succint form if I can, from Banner’s interview w/Spadaro
#1) “Small Increments of improvement to win 1 or 2 more games to get further along” (I thought the goal was to win to Super Bowl, not to get further along in the playoffs which they have been knocked out in the 1st Round the last 2 seasons)
#2) Asked about VIkings loss “Every team has a bad game or two, we picked a bad time to have a bad game” (Just like the previous Season with so much riding for playoff positioning and then laid an egg vs Cowboys in 2009 only to repeat the same sorry perfomance in 2010 at home vs the VIkings which I find unacceptable)
#3) Asked about playoff loss to Packers.. “it was a solid performance” as if he was proud of it.. losing a playoff game at home as if it was a moral victory
of some sort… I do not think it was a solid perfomance at all
#4) Asked about Free-Agnecy – “being aggressive doesn’t mean going after big name players, we want to fill some holes, add depth , incrementally improve” (this statement doesn’t sound like they are going to go after any Top availalbe players, but fill in some spots with 2nd Tier (cheaper) players
All in all, I think he mentioined “tweaking some things”, “incrementally improving some spots” which to me tells me that they are relatively satisfied with the talent level of this team and that with improved Coaching can make a difference for next Season and beyond and I disagree with this for I feel the Talent Level on the Defensive side of the ball is simpley not there.. Will they be better next year Defensively, I think so since so many younger players will naturally improve in their 2nd and 3rd Seasons, are they a Super Bowl Contender with this bunch.. absolutely not, unless they get at least 2-3 real
playmakers added to this Defense (1 on the DL and 1 at LB at least)
Time will tell
Nmandi probably won’t be in Philly and honestly I don’t have a problem with that. People keep trying to label him a “Shutdown Corner” and the guy’s had like 8 interceptions in 3 seasons. I don’t think he’s had more than one season with 7-8 or more interceptions in his entire 8 year career, so from my standpoint he’s overrated which shouldn’t surprise people that know anything about Oakland players in general. The Eagles need to re-tool their thinking on evaluating/grading free agents relative to team needs and shift into focussing on defensive linemen.