Nnamdi!

Everything I read had Asomugha going to the Jets. I'm very surprised to find him ending up in Philly. I even wrote up a little something for the blog in anticipation of Asomugha signing with the Jets. So as not to waste it, here it is:

Remember the 1983 Raiders? At the trade deadline they acquired CB Mike Haynes from New England. They already had a great corner in Lester Hayes; but Mike Haynes was a Hall of Famer, and instantly became their #1 corner.

With 2 shutdown corners, the Raiders let them take the opponents WRs man-to-man, and played 9-on-9 with the rest of their D. And they killed everyone. Only Neil Lomax' Cardinals did any real scoring against them after the Haynes acquisition (the only game they lost). They marched thru the playoffs and killed the Skins in the Super Bowl.

I'm sure Rex Ryan remembers that. He's gotta be salivating at the notion of having two Pro Bowlers at the corners. That would open up his entire playbook of crazy blitzes and overloads.

That would make the Jets very formidable.

Well, I guess it would've. Now Asomugha will make the Eagles very formidable.

My first reaction to this news was, Andy Reid is a genius. The Eagles are friggin loaded. And they've stocked up while fortifying the future, as well. They got a future 2nd-rd pick in the Kevin Kolb trade; possibly their most significant move for the future is getting Vince Young to sit on the bench behind Vick for a couple years. Young may or may not pan out; but it's an ideal situation for him, and he's got great upside. Like Michael Vick upside.

My second reaction was: wow, can you imagine the culture shock for Nnamdi Asomugha? He is going to *love* his new life. He goes from possibly the most dysfunctional situation in pro sports, to one of the best-run NFL organizations of the last decade.

I don't think he has any idea what a relief it will be for him, to have everything all be about football. It's too bad that Asomugha, a once in a generation talent at corner, will not get to play for Jim Johnson, the Eagles longtime defensive coordinator who passed away a couple years ago. That would have been awesome. But even so, I imagine there will be a point sometime this season, or maybe the following offseason, where something will be handled in a quiet, professional in-house manner by the Eagles organization, and Asomugha will realize he is happier than he's ever been during his NFL career.