Eagles Corner Market: Nnamdi Joins Crowd
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Eagles Corner Market: Nnamdi Joins Crowd
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
BETHLEHEM -- The Eagles have announced a five-year deal with the top free agent on the NFL market, corner Nnamdi Asomugha, who joins Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the corner they acquired yesterday from Arizona, and Asante Samuel in what is the NFL's most prolific and best-paid corner corps. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Asomugha deal is for $60 million, $25 million guaranteed.
Whether the three-cornered defense will stand is, of course, a huge question, one the Eagles didn't answer resoundingly in a news conference that began shortly after 7 p.m. at Lehigh.
General manager Howie Roseman, asked if he envisioned lining up all three corners on opening day in St. Louis, gave an answer that began with "We're excited to get Nnamdi."
Asked again after the news conference, Roseman again refrained from painting an emphatic picture of all three corners definitely, absiolutely, positively playing here.
Roseman said he was excited to have all three on the roster. "We have more work to do to fill out our roster," he said.
Roseman repeatedly insisted that Samuel's absence so far from training camp was what the Eagles have said -- personal and excused, not at all related to the corner moves. But unless the Birds are going to talk a Pro Bowler into taking a nickel role, one has to think a Samuel trade might be pending, for something the Eagles really need. (A big-time lionebacker? A big-time right offensive tackle? Hunter Pence?)
All day long, Twitter chronicled an apparent battle between the Cowboys and the Jets to sign Asomugha, often extolled as the NFL''s best cover corner. News that the Eagles were signing him -- apparently broken by Schefter and Fox's Jay Glazer, in a dead heat, seconds before the team texted an announcement -- stunned the league.
Roseman said the Eagles became serious bidders "fairly recently," through contacts with agent Ben Dogra about other players he represents.
"You're talking about a guy who represents 120 players," Roseman said. "You're going to be talking with him, and when you are, you're going to be curious about what's going on" with Asomugha.
Eagles coach Andy Reid announced the trade but left for a team meeting without answering any questions about who plays where.
"I mentioned to you before that I thought Howie had a great plan for free agency and trades and so on," Reid said. "This is what we have here so far, and it's a pretty good list. I think we all know about Nnamdi -- if not the best, he's one of the best cornerbacks in the National Football League. He'll be a great addition to our cornerback corps ... It reminds me a little of when we had Al (Harris), Troy (Vincent) and Bobby Taylor. So we'll just see how things go there."
Maybe the Eagles aren't quite sure yet whether this can work, maybe it depends on Samuel's reaction to being overshadowed, and possibly asked to play inside.
"We've spent a lot of time on making this move. There hasn't been a lot of time for other things," Roseman said. "I think all those questions are for another day."
Roseman said the Eagles are in "constant contact" with Samuel.
Oh, yeah, the Eagles finally announced the five-year Jason Babin deal. They still aren't able to acknowledge their agreement with QB Vince Young, because he wasn't technically released until today, though the Titans announced they were releasing him on Thursday.
"Very late," Roseman said, when asked when the Eagles entered the Asomugha process. "He wanted to be in Philadelphia."
Wow, just wow. What will they do with Asante? He is too good to cut or trade... his ballhawking skills are valuable to this D as evidenced by the prolific number of picks he has since entering the league. I should say, he SHOULD not be traded, but no way he will play nickel, and a rotation probably wouldn't satisfy either. This is great, but in a way, was it really needed? We could've used that contract money to invest in LB and to give Desean an extension. I guess the Eagles are further under than I thought.
— jiggy- How do you get all three on the field at once &/or make them all happy? They might trade DRC (hopefully for a stud LB)— Mabus
- that came out of NOWHERE. one of these guys going to play safety?????????????— TommyGun
- This is a joke, right???— Philly Fan in Kuwait
- Best move of the year, by far, explosive offense on the field 24/7 with all these ballhawks— KyleMacKrell
Incredible! Not only do we get one of the best corners this league has ever seen, but we TAKE HIM from Dallas! I feel just like I did the night we swooped in and stole Cliff Lee from the Rangers and Yankees. I am going to get tennis elbow from how much fist pumping I am doing right now. Never been prouder to be a Birds fan!
E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!— Timmah!- That is absolutely crazy - never saw this coming after DRC. Gotta be Samuel and Nnamdi outside, DRC in the nickel, right? Eagles used a nickel right around 50% of their plays on D last year, so it's almost a starting position anyway and pretty valuable to their D. This lets them really let the front four loose, like Castillo has been talking about, while really minimizing the risk on the backside.
Nothing to say, but wow... who needs LBs anyway, right?— sweetlew - speachless— stikolaboloni
- Woah, this is a complete shock..........this is a ruben amaro move— feudal_nobility09
- Cliff who???— wvbillz
- Cromartie is really not very good.— PresidentSpock
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- nickles Banner strikes again..oh, wait, not the right reference?— mbbear
- Someone should take the idiot moron who always posts "joe nickles banner", kick him in the groin, drive him to the city limits and tell him to never come back. — tomhanks
