Cris Carter Thinks Nnamdi Asomugha Should Sign With Atlanta

[KRUNKuno]

I've said this before, but I'll kind of restate it. I have been thinking we will go after Nnamdi for a couple of reasons:

1. Although it seems as if we need a defensive end, considering if the NFL decides to go by the 2010 rules there will be no defensive end worth signing. Any defensive end will have to be had through a trade.

2. The biggest way to offset poor defensive line play is through stellar defensive back play. We would have 3 of the league's top cover guys. It would be a beautiful problem to have.

3. Brent Grimes....I love Brent Grimes, as do most of us, but Grimes' is looking for a contract after an extremely solid season. There's no way he will settle for less than what we gave Dunta after he statistically outperformed Dunta.

4. Signing Nnamdi would mean we would have 3 playmaking, tough cornerbacks for at least one year. If we sign Nnamdi, however, we will have A+ insurance if Grimes leaves the following year.

5. Would you rather give a huge contract to the prototypical corner still in his prime, or the underdog corner who is limited by his size at times but is definitely on the up-rise?

[kenk]

This is from the start of the 2009 season.

Cornerback rankings: Asomugha is the best and still getting better

PUBLISHED Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 4:26 pm EDT

. RealScouts

Sporting News Text size

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A The cornerback position will always feature some of the NFL's top athletes, but the position is evolving. Speed will continue to be the calling card, but teams are looking for that same speed in bigger corners who can compete with the size and quickness of today's wideouts and support the run.

RealScouts, Sporting News' team of former NFL scouts, rank their top 20 cornerbacks for '09:

1. Nnamdi Asomugha, Raiders. Asomugha is the best cover corner in the league and just entering the prime of his career. He's a fantastic athlete with outstanding speed whose skills are featured in the Raiders' man cover scheme.

2. Cortland Finnegan, Titans. Finnegan started out hot in 2008 and then teams stopped throwing his way. He can turn and run with receivers, closes quickly on the ball in zone coverage and is a scoring threat with the ball in his hands.

3. Champ Bailey, Broncos. Until last year's groin tear, Bailey was a model of durability in his 10-year career. He's scheduled to be back at full health this year, but he'll also be 31. Expect him to be tested early in the season, but his instincts and natural cover skills will keep him among the elite.

4. Asante Samuel, Eagles. Samuel didn't set a career high in interceptions in his first year in Philly, but he broke up a personal-best 24 passes and was extremely active in the Eagles' aggressive scheme. Philadelphia had one of the best pass defenses in the second half of the season and will be better this year.

5. Nate Clements, 49ers. Clements' numbers were down in 2008, but he is still one of the best all-around corners. In addition to outstanding cover skills, he's an excellent tackler who is strong against the run and can play any position in the secondary.

6. Darrelle Revis, Jets. Revis flashed a lot of talent in his first two seasons. He's a ballhawk who displays good technique, size, instincts and toughness and will excel in Rex Ryan's zone coverage schemes.

7. Antonio Cromartie, Chargers. He was criticized heavily for his poor play in 2008, then it was revealed he had played the entire season with a fractured hip. Coordinator Ron Rivera runs an aggressive scheme, which will help Cromartie in coverage. There is some talk he might not start, but if the Chargers put him on the field and he's healthy, he'll make big plays.

8. DeAngelo Hall, Redskins. Attitude and off-field persona aside, Hall can flat-out play. He revived his career with the Redskins after bombing in Oakland, and his ball skills and cover ability in man and zone schemes will help him excel behind an improved front.

9. Antoine Winfield, Vikings. Winfield is an aggressive, physical corner who loves to mix it up at the line of scrimmage and knock receivers off their routes. He is also an excellent tackler and run-support player.

10. Rashean Mathis, Jaguars. Injuries have stolen much of the past two seasons from Mathis, who needs to stay healthy and play within the scheme. He has a host of physical tools and natural talents, but has tried too hard to make things happen and his overaggressiveness has led to mistakes in coverage.

11. Marcus Trufant, Seahawks. He can shut down the top receivers with his ability to cover long and close quickly on shorter routes. Those skills will play well in the Seahawks' cover 2 looks under new coach Jim Mora. Trufant has good hands, is a dangerous runner after the catch and will be helped by a renewed pass rush.

12. Terence Newman, Cowboys. Newman is explosive and athletic and shows great speed and agility. He can be overaggressive in coverage at times but has been playing with more maturity and better technique recently.

13. Dunta Robinson, Texans. He has great athletic ability but needs to stay healthy. He has shutdown ability and can make big plays all over the field.

14. Charles Woodson, Packers. As age and injury work against him, Woodson may make a move to safety at some point. But he's still an excellent bump-and-run corner who plays tight man coverage but is also comfortable in zone schemes. He led all corners in interceptions last season and is a willing tackler against the run.

15. Leigh Bodden, Patriots. Bodden is big and fast and a strong player near the line, both as a press corner and in run support. Though he struggled last year in Detroit, he'll be a superior player in Bill Belichick's system.

16. Kelvin Hayden, Colts. Hayden has good range and speed, closes quickly and makes plays on the ball. He's an excellent fit in the Colts' cover 2 system.

17. Bryant McFadden, Cardinals. McFadden has some serious big-game experience to go with excellent ball skills and tackling ability. Best of all, he's only 27. A broken arm in 2008 hurt his free-agent value, but he is a good all-around player and will be a good fit in a much-improved Arizona secondary.

18. Al Harris, Packers. Harris is an excellent press corner, even at 34. However, he won't be as quick as Woodson to adjust to the zone schemes the Pack will play in their new 3-4. Harris will have to adjust to playing off receivers or the Packers may have to alter the scheme to fit his skills.

19. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cardinals. As a rookie, Rodgers-Cromartie flashed impressive athletic ability and rare ball skills. He has a unique combination of size and speed and adjusts well to the ball in the air. With McFadden in the lineup and a year of experience under his belt, Rodgers-Cromartie should be better in 2009. He just has to prove 2008 wasn't a fluke.

20. Eric Wright, Browns. Wright is fast and athletic, willing in run support and aggressive getting to the ball. He has also shown the ability to make plays with the ball in his hands. Opposing quarterbacks shied away from him last season when they found an easier target in Brandon McDonald, but Wright is an improving young talent.

RealScouts, a team of former NFL scouts, analyze NFL and college players, coaches and teams exclusively for Sporting News.

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2009-05-26/cornerback-rankings-asomugha-best-and-still-getting-better#ixzz1MRIS1RjV

[SIR.BLOGS ALOT]

I think if we got him, our team would be set. Might make a run like the 72 Dolphins. 16-0 here we come.

[BoomGoesTheDynamite]

Any idea how much Nnamdi's asking for?

[markdzul]

Im not sure what his asking price is but if we sign him I may just shat myself in public if thats when I hear about it.....

[d#d#d#]

Any idea how much Nnamdi's asking for?

Oakland signed him to a 3 year $45M contract last time, so id say he will want similar. Im sure there will be dreamers on here though that will say he will work for a discount in Atlanta

[Joremarid]

Jenkins, Abe and Gonzo will come off the books, but the increasing cap hits of some of our other players will off-set that. Plus - having built so heavily through the draft in the last 4 years - we have a lot of key players whose contracts will be running out. We could lost 10 starters in the next 12 months and they all have to be re-signed or replaced: and that's before we look at role player like Weems, Wire, Peterson, Snelling, HD. We also have to assume that Matt Ryan is going to get a very large contract extension in the next 2 years.

Adding 1 overpriced elite FA doens't necessarily make you better as a team, especially if/when it prevents you from resigning your best young players (Claybo, Dahl, Grimes, Lofton, Decoud, Biermann etc.).

The team that try to buy titles by overspending on top FA's rarely succeed in the NFL. The Skins have been a cellar dweller for over a decade because they try to do just that. It is no coincidence that the best teams in the NFL don't overspend on elite FA's.

There are also plenty of stories of teams that are cheap in FA and dont win anything.

[unstawpable_falconsfan88]

Actually Nnamdi is the exact opposite of a playmaker. He is an extremely good corner back, but he's not a playmaker and its not his fault. He had zero INT's zero sacks and 19 total tackles for the year. Asomugha is absolutely not a playmaker but **** I love his stat line. 19 Tackles for the year????? that's a little more than one tackle a game. I'd like to know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars he made per tackle. Anyways that spells shut down corner to me.

Asomugha - 19

Grimes - 87

Robinson - 55

You have to aslo take into account total targets. Aso had only 27 total for the year allowing 10 receptions, and no touchdowns. Do I need to type up grimees and robinsons?? I think not. There is a reason Aso is a 4 time all pro. Total for our secondary 0.

[Guest mashburn]

Any idea how much Nnamdi's asking for?

I do not know. But did we ever get our money back from vick? I wonder if that would be close enough to cover aso pay.

[HouTexFalcon]

I will sign this every day of the week, if we got nmadi and mario for grimes, i know 1 signed and the other vie trade, wow that would be amazing, but i would be surprised if the texans traded supermario for only 1 player and that being grimes.

I live in Houston and I can tell you now, that there are two guys on that team that are untouchable:

1. Andre Johnson- No explanation needed. The city loves him.

2.Mario Williams- The owner of the team, loves Mario Williams. And since Wade Phillips is now their DC, he is planning to use him as a bigger D Ware.

If by some crazy chance they trade Williams, it will be for way more than just Grimes. Probably more like Grimes, JA 98,and Jenkins. Maybe even a draft pick for flair.

But in all honesty, I couldn't see them parting with Mario.

[kenk]

HELLO!! Are you kidding me? ASo cant make as many tackles if they dont throw the ball his way. Grimes and Robinson gave up as many receptions in one game (example GB GAME) Than Aso gives up in a Whole Season!!!

Actually Nnamdi is the exact opposite of a playmaker. He is an extremely good corner back, but he's not a playmaker and its not his fault. He had zero INT's zero sacks and 19 total tackles for the year. Asomugha is absolutely not a playmaker but **** I love his stat line. 19 Tackles for the year????? that's a little more than one tackle a game. I'd like to know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars he made per tackle. Anyways that spells shut down corner to me.

Asomugha - 19

Grimes - 87

Robinson - 55

[dirtybird1989]

Oakland signed him to a 3 year $45M contract last time, so id say he will want similar. Im sure there will be dreamers on here though that will say he will work for a discount in Atlanta

No i think he will want alot more than 45 million. Id say a five year 100 million dollar contract. Thats just my opinion,but im no agent.

[dirtybird1989]

I've said this before, but I'll kind of restate it. I have been thinking we will go after Nnamdi for a couple of reasons:

1. Although it seems as if we need a defensive end, considering if the NFL decides to go by the 2010 rules there will be no defensive end worth signing. Any defensive end will have to be had through a trade.

2. The biggest way to offset poor defensive line play is through stellar defensive back play. We would have 3 of the league's top cover guys. It would be a beautiful problem to have.

3. Brent Grimes....I love Brent Grimes, as do most of us, but Grimes' is looking for a contract after an extremely solid season. There's no way he will settle for less than what we gave Dunta after he statistically outperformed Dunta.

4. Signing Nnamdi would mean we would have 3 playmaking, tough cornerbacks for at least one year. If we sign Nnamdi, however, we will have A+ insurance if Grimes leaves the following year.

5. Would you rather give a huge contract to the prototypical corner still in his prime, or the underdog corner who is limited by his size at times but is definitely on the up-rise?

Honestly id rather keep Grimes. Just because i know he is good and i know he plays and practices extremly hard. If we could keep grimes and get Aso then that would be great.

[IceFalcon]

All I know is a CB core of Grimes, Dunta, and Aso would probably be the best in the league.

**** would be fun as **** to watch, especially with Moore and DeCoud comming into their own.

[Knight of God]

How we didn't fix our DE position.

Haven't had the chance to yet.

[THE ICEMAN]

Nnamdi would be a great great signing here because it would bump Grimes in to the slot and play more like a saftey and use his tremendous ball skills and him being a good tackler helps to plus as good as Grimes is he still gives up the big play some times because his size it limits him there was a play were he had Great coverage on James Jones against the Packers in the Playoff game and Jones just went up over top of him for a TD if that was Nnamdi or Robinson it would have been a much tougher play to make for Jones and I'm not saying Grimes isn't good he the best we got and would be better in the slot were he played a lot in 08 and 09 so it would be an easy move for him to but the slot is a huge hole for the Falcons but if you look at the Salary of all 32 teams the Falcons could sign Ray Edwards and Nnamdi Asomugha and still have a lower salary than the Saints and a hand full of other teams and Robinson isn't do that much 6.5 mil for the 2011-2012 season Nnamdi made 16 mil last year and could may the same amount this year but was cut the 3 year 45 mil he going to want big Guaranteed money like a 5 year 60 mil with like 30 mil Guaranteed so like he'll make about 11-15 mil a year and a guy who was only targeted 27 times and only allowed 10 catches he's worth it. Him and Edwards would take a very Solid to good Defense and make them an easy top 5 Defense and maybe the best in football when you look at how the Steelers are aging and the Packers could lose some guys in FA but if those two guy's come here that would be Julio Jones,Ray Edwards and Nnamdi Asomugha they've added I would be willing to bet this team would be in the Super Bowl assuming they would stay healthy that three pro bowls caliber players/Talents you added to a 13-3 football team that was already pretty good

[kiwifalcon]

As much as we dream about this I'll guarantee you Aso will not becoming to the ATL anytime soon if anything to get him here we will have to get into a bidding war with teams like the Cowboys and the Eagles to name 2 that are also desperate for his services.While I'd like Aso to arrive in the ATL I just can't bring myself to think that the FO will pull the trigger on this one.

Despite the aggressivenes with the draft move to get JJ I think sanity will prevail when FA finally begins.

[freebird310]

I'd love to have Nnamdi but how in the heck can we afford him?

Yea, that was kind of what I was thnking, LOL .......I don't really see any explanations in this thread ....

[BucdUp]

13-3 last year, 9-7 the year before right? No titles. Ever. Still glowing from breaking the consecutive winning seasons curse a couple of years ago and some of you are saying he'd consider ATL because he wants to play for a winner??? BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

He won't be in Atlanta ladies, and Cris Carter should be punished for toying with your delicate emotions.

[freebird310]

13-3 last year, 9-7 the year before right? No titles. Ever. Still glowing from breaking the consecutive winning seasons curse a couple of years ago and some of you are saying he'd consider ATL because he wants to play for a winner??? BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

He won't be in Atlanta ladies, and Cris Carter should be punished for toying with your delicate emotions.

Enjoy life without your boy Talib azzwhole ........

[SYD]

I bet Grimes and Robinson would welcome Nnamdi with open arms. It is not often you can bring in the top corner in the game. They would work it out just like Woodson worked it out in GB. Think about Nnamdi playing the rover role in our defense.

We play alot of NB packages I'm pretty sure Grimes would be ok playing NB as he would rack up some serious numbers with QB's not throwing to Dunta and Alphabet.

If for some odd reason we have a chance to sign alphabet you do not pass that chance up. Having depth issues like is is a dream every team wishes they had.

[J-Nice]

I'd rather sign a DE because a great DE can make your whole defense better but a CB can only make one side of the field better

[SYD]

I say we go for broke. Let's sign Alphabet and Charles Johnson and get us a SB before Blank is to old to understand what we won.

I'm not worried about the cap, we have a good amount of space, the cap will increase alot like it does every year, next year will probably be uncapped anyway so they can just do a front loaded contract. I have no doubt the front office can resign the player we want and grab two big free agents like Aso and Johnson and have our cap still in good shape when it re appears.

If your owner is willing to spend the money and after this year we know he is, there is NO point in hoarding cap space just so you can say you are this much money under the cap. You don't get a prize for being the team with the most cap space.

As long as we are $1 under the cap and have a full roster in place I'd rather have that roster filled with good character in their prime Pro Bowlers then be 40 million under the cap and scraping by.

Let's just do this and get our ring now.

Edited May 16, 2011 by SYD

[THE ICEMAN]

BucdUp

13-3 last year, 9-7 the year before right? No titles. Ever. Still glowing from breaking the consecutive winning seasons curse a couple of years ago and some of you are saying he'd consider ATL because he wants to play for a winner??? BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The Falcons have the second best record in all of football over the last 3 seasons only second to the Colts. And at 33-15 thats pretty dam good go look and see what the Buc's record is and see if he wants to go there the buc's aren't signing anyone on that level. Not to mention there cutting Talib and Rudd is a FA so there two best Defense players are gone good luck on a 6-10 season B*T*H

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I really think it's a possibility look back last year they passed up a chance at getting Peppers and that hurt them really bad I don't think they'll make the same mistake twice but I also don't think they'll sign him though because the price will simply be to high. Then you throw in them signing Edwards it would be much cheaper to sign a guy like Carlos Rodgers or Johnathon Joesph both good players. But if the court rules to take the NFL out of the lockout and then the NFL will likely use the 2010 rules for FA then I think the Falcons become big players for Nnamdi because if you can't get a passrusher then get a great coverage guy just look what Robinson did last year and he's just a slightly above average CB Nnamdi is great if not the best. The guy was only thrown at 27 times all year

[dyoshot]

13-3 last year, 9-7 the year before right? No titles. Ever. Still glowing from breaking the consecutive winning seasons curse a couple of years ago and some of you are saying he'd consider ATL because he wants to play for a winner??? BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

He won't be in Atlanta ladies, and Cris Carter should be punished for toying with your delicate emotions.

Dude, we've swept you guys the last two years. No wins against the Falcons since 2008. If our team sucks so bad, the Bucs should have easily handled them. Nice try though.