Juan Castillo on how to best use Nnamdi Asomugha
A question that has come up from Eagles fans often this summer is defensive coordinator Juan Castillo's use of Nnamdi Asomugha. At his best in Oakland, Asomugha was a shutdown, man-to-man cornerback. The Eagles used Asomugha in different ways last season, in both man and zone coverages, and sometimes on tight ends.
Juan Castillo on how to best use Nnamdi Asomugha
Zach Berman, Inquirer Staff Writer
A question that has come up from Eagles fans often this summer is defensive coordinator Juan Castillo's use of Nnamdi Asomugha. At his best in Oakland, Asomugha was a shutdown, man-to-man cornerback. The Eagles used Asomugha in different ways last season, in both man and zone coverages, and sometimes on tight ends.
So the question was posed to Castillo -- what's the best way to use Asomugha? The Eagles defensive coordinator said it all depends on the matchup.
"There's some things that we could probably do in the New England game if it was during the season that we will not do," Castillo said. "I think it depends on the receiver. Dominique [Rodgers-Cromartie], the same thing. I think in the season, there will be some things that we won't do in the preseason so it's an advantage for those two guys."
That's not the most explanatory of answers, but it does show that Castillo wants to use Asomugha in different ways depending on the opposing offense.
Some other quick notes from Castillo...
- Regarding struggling safety Jaiquawn Jarrett, Castillo emphasized Jarrett's competitiveness.
"The next practice we had at Lehigh [after the game], he showed the type of presence he could be," Jarrett said. "We expect him to come back and do a good job."
- The Eagles will have a good chance to see three different packages against the Patriots: their nickel defense on first and second downs; a nickel defense on third downs; and their dime defense.
"That's one thing about New England -- do they spread it out and we use nickel, or do they come back in tight alignments and we play base," Castillo said.
This is easy let him play man to man and shut down the other the other teams best wide out period! end of question!— srcdaddy1216- I don't know why teams don't show all of their alignments and schemes and work on them in preseason. I know they say it's because they don't want "film" on them but they are going put it out there in Week 1 anyway so holding back gives them an advantage in Week 1 at the very most and then they are exposed anyway. So is it really worth not having the players practice what they are going to play for the sake of hiding things from the Browns?— guyguy4
- juan is a schmuck. i give him 5 games before he's canned and bowles takes over.— jazztafari
- Castillo should not get too cut with his secondary schemes this year. Leave that to Bowles. Let Jarrett play the first half against Tom Brady. That will be a good test.— armchairGM
- i watched why Nnamdi was so good in oakland because he always had help/inside corners around him which he was able to tackle, make interceptions, i mean with the eagles, he's always by himself with no help around him which he gets exposed and never have the time to tackle or make plays.— lonewolf83
- You came to a conclusion about how he wants to use Asomugha for the entire season based off of a single quote? And the conclusion is that he wants to use him differently for different opponents? Boy that's some hard hitting journalism right there. Tremendous football insight.— skay1004
- Against the Cards last year, when Asomugha was matched up against Fitzgerald, he shut him down. When Juan had other players covering him, he lit us up. Just use him in the way that made him great.— phillyinsd
- ... put him in a phillies uniform come sept. 1 ...— LivePhilly_DiePhilly
- As a runway model --tall , lean, long legs, speaks softly,and avoids physical contact— marcards
- I'm sick of all these armchair trolls who think they know everything about football. I honestly don't believe Castillo is doing anything with Asomugha or the others. If he's smart, let Bowles work with them; Asomugha is a shutdown corner, and that's what he should be doing. Play him to his strengths and use him in the passing downs at least. Jarrett, the jury's still out, but I think he can play in this league. Bowles came in with a very good reputation for results; Castillo should let the man coach and be done with it.— MidStaterUXB
- A truly elite cornerback excels in whatever coverage he is asked to play. Period
Let the man grow as a defensive back. No one is going to excel in the first year of doing something different. Woodson wasn't the player he is his first year in Green Bay playing that style of defense, but look at him now, Woodson is all over the place and is a play maker. Making that transition from straight up shut down corner to playing all over in the defensive backfeild isn't easy. If anything it will prolong his career because like Woodson, if Nnamdie gets it down, he can play an extra few years as a safety.- Easy... use him as trade bait and get a good, NFL caliber MLB. Then Nmandi would be useful.— sfofan
- All bullsh*t. If he is as "elite" as touted, he wouldn't have had as bad a year as he did. What? He never learned how to play cover-2, banjo, etc.
Let's face it...he's bizarro Samuels...can only play one way and gets TOASTED when he tries something else...— CaptAwesome - He looks very depressed in that picture.— guyguy4
- PRESS COVERAGE MAN TO MAN.... period.. stop shuffling Juan Catastrophillo— 1st and goal
- once again, castillo will show why he should be unemployed— AlexSp
- Nnamdi is still one of the top 5 cb's in the league and i also believe DRC is in the same category but they both need to play press coverage all the time. Whether you utilise them by putting them on a certain reciever each game is debatable. DRC left corner, Nnamdi right corner. Let them press and then work your safeties to give them help pending the situation. Play to your own players strength's not the oppisitions.— sethjoyner59
- Exposed and overrated so now they try to figure out how to use him. So typical of the Eagles.— GJK3161
- Wow you sound like a tough guy, so why is it typical? Please dazzle us with more of your football knowledge. Idiot — DogBiscuitthedope
- --guyguy4- - The reason Nnamdi's photo looks WACK is because the Line Editor for Philly.Com uses the same insulting system of publishing THE most humiliating pic (on file) that they can get away with; a la the New York Post. It's childish at best - but hey...— Laughingaloud123
- I recommend using number 24 in the nickel and dime coverages. Obviously it is not his fault that he is not as good as advertised.— Stang59
- All we see here is Reid has turned Costillo into a puppet in his
image: placate, pacify and patronize n try to give as little as
possible.
Juan is nice guy, works hard but he IS NOT A DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR,
does Andy Reid have to forfeit another season to see this reality??— mikey48 - sr5cdaddy... you are on point..Im sick and tired of talking or hearing debate on how to use Nnamdi.. Castillo needs to stop screwin around with him and let him play the way has natural style.. he is at his best as a press corner period.. If Castillo screws around with this year and they get burnt.. he needs to be fired.. its common sense.. you build your schemes around the strength of each player!!— nixman101
- Juan needs to stop thinking so much. He might hurt himself. This clown has to go.— oldBird
- No real mystery, the answer is in the question. "Oakland he was a shut down man to man corner, How should we use him? DUHHH Zone or slot defender oh that's right we did that last year and it didn't work. This is a conundrum.
Kind of like we have these round things that help us move stuff easily called wheels. How about we take the round away and make them square and see how they work. WTH is an OL coach doing being given the opportunity to make those decisions anyway?— rhcjr2 - base vs nickel? there's more to it than that.— HeelYes
