I still can't get over these two contracts the Raiders signed

Whatever Al Davis is smoking would probably knock me out for a week

15 Mil a year for a CB. I can't even pronounce his name Nnamdi Asomugha

4 Mil a year for a punter.

Both record breaking deals for their respective positions

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By Nancy Kercheval

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and punter Shane Lechler signed contracts that set National Football League records.

Asomugha’s three-year deal is worth $45.3 million, making him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history, ESPN said. Lechler got a four-year accord worth $16 million, the biggest ever for a punter, the Raiders said, while declining to disclose the terms of either contract.

Asomugha, the first-round draft selection by the Raiders in 2003, has twice earned a spot in the Pro Bowl.

Lechler, who this month played in his fourth Pro Bowl, led the NFL in 2008 with a net punting average of 41.2 yards. He also was first in the American Football Conference with a gross punting average of 48.8 yards, which ranked second in the NFL.

Lechler dropped a career-high 33 punts inside the 20-yard line in 2008 to rank second in the AFC and third in the NFL. He was the Raiders’ fifth-round draft pick in 2000.

Both players were represented by agent Tom Condon.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at

Al Davis has always felt that you began to build a team with top notch cornerbacks. When John Madden was his head coach they would argue every year before the draft because Madden felt outstanding offensive tackles were more important than Davis' prefererence for outstanding corners.

Naturally they both agreed that a quarterback who could perform in the clutch was also a very important piece on any winning team.

Madden has written a a fair amount of books about sports and mainly football but the one that is probably his most well known is "One Knee Equals Two Feet" contains the chapter about the differences between Madden and Davis regarding how to build a Super Bowl winner.

Available at Amazon.com

wil.

Asomugha is absolutely a shut down corner. Teams do not throw that guys way. He's worth every penny as far as I'm concerned.

Lechler, yeah it's a lot for a punter, but he's pretty damn good too.

The Raiders have signed a lot more worse contracts than these. Tommy Kelly comes to mind.

15 mil for one CB is lunacy.

That's Al Davis.

from an article..


So far in 2008, the trend has been that an opposing team's top receiver does not fare well against the Raiders because they have to go up against Asomugha. Note that many of the catches and yards come from plays when Asomugha was not covering the receiver.

Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons Season low in yards. Five catches, 54 yards, zero touchdowns;
Steve Smith, Carolina Panthers Worst game of the season and possibly of his career. Asomugha was his shadow the whole game. One catch, nine yards, zero touchdowns;
Laveranues New York Jets Four catches, 51 yards, zero touchdowns;
Lee Evans, Buffalo Bills Four catches, 65 yards, zero touchdowns;
Vincent Jackson, San Diego Chargers Three catches, 52 yards, zero touchdowns;
Ted Ginn Jr., Miami Dolphins Four catches, 51 yards, zero touchdowns;
Derrick Mason, Baltimore Ravens Worst game of the season. One catch, three yards, zero touchdowns.
Recall that last year, Asomugha had 35 passes thrown his way. This season, he is on pace for nowhere near that number. Through Week Six, Asomugha had only one ball thrown his way in each of those games, except against the Kansas City Chiefs, who threw a whopping two balls sent in his direction.

I think the problem lies within the fact that the rest of the team is junk........and you drop this kind of cash on two guys albeit very good players. That and you are the Oakland Raiders. Just looks bad.

RobFunk said:

Whatever Al Davis is smoking would probably knock me out for a week

15 Mil a year for a CB. I can't even pronounce his name Nnamdi Asomugha

4 Mil a year for a punter.

Both record breaking deals for their respective positions

-----------------------------------


By Nancy Kercheval

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and punter Shane Lechler signed contracts that set National Football League records.

Asomugha’s three-year deal is worth $45.3 million, making him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history, ESPN said. Lechler got a four-year accord worth $16 million, the biggest ever for a punter, the Raiders said, while declining to disclose the terms of either contract.

Asomugha, the first-round draft selection by the Raiders in 2003, has twice earned a spot in the Pro Bowl.

Lechler, who this month played in his fourth Pro Bowl, led the NFL in 2008 with a net punting average of 41.2 yards. He also was first in the American Football Conference with a gross punting average of 48.8 yards, which ranked second in the NFL.

Lechler dropped a career-high 33 punts inside the 20-yard line in 2008 to rank second in the AFC and third in the NFL. He was the Raiders’ fifth-round draft pick in 2000.

Both players were represented by agent Tom Condon.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at

Click to expand...

Rob whether you agree with it or not its a very unique situation. Both these guys are (and have) been the best guys on the team for the past 3-4 years. Many of us (Raiderfans) felt sorry for Nmamdi Asomugha (pronounced Nom-dee, Ah-som-mwah) because he was has been company man in a terribly managed organization. He's definitely one of the top 3 corners in the NFL. To have him stand by and watch as rookies and "has been" FA's come in and get double digit millions while he had to suck it up was a really bad situation for him. Personally I felt he deserved much much better, especially since we ended up franchising him last year ($9 mil) and guys less deserving (e.g. DL Gerald Warren and DL Terrdel Sands) got salary bumps in the double digit millions. TERRDEL'S OUTTA SHAPE FAT ASS WAS ON THE SIDELINES DAMN NEAR 50% OF THE DEFENSIVE SNAPS!!!!!

So bottomline for him to get the $45 mil was well deserved. Now as far as the amount? It's a bit high IMO. Then again I dunno what other top tier corners are getting these days. All I know is the guy has been the anchor of this team and no one could say shit about his play. He's a class guy, a loyal player even during these horrid times, and as an unquestioned shutdown corner who can also tackle. (played safety @ Cal).

Now as for a punter getting 16 mil? Well he's been our BEST PLAYER the last 5 years. LOL. A punter. Yes, a punter. He's a perrinial pro-bowler. That said, anything over 10 mil is cray for a punter. Then again if anyone deserved big money for a punter, I say its Lechler.


Basically I'm glad these guys are getting the money. Can't say much for the rest of my beloved team. I would say part of the reason they're getting so much loot is because I personally believe Mr. Davis has lost it. Remember last year he spent over $200 million on a bunch of losers; Javon Walker, DeAngelo Hall, Tommy Kelly, Gerald Warren, and Terdell Sands. Sorry ass Walker and Hall DIDN'T EVEN FINISH THE FRIGGIN SEASON!!!. Gibril Wilson (NYG) was brought in as well but he was an impact player so he deserved his salary. As for Davis, it really is a shame too. His larger than life ego, and his outdated philosophy has driven the Raiders organizaiton into the ground. It really sucks being the laughing stock of the NFL.

Congrats to Asomugha and Lechler for the money. Hopefully its Davis's parting gift with a conscience.

As much as I dislike Davis' decisions, I like the CB deal. Guy is the best in the league and does tons more then what stats indicate since teams don't throw his way.

I dont care if Deion came back in his prime no corner is worth 15M unless they also happen to play RB like Barry Sanders

SaltyVeteran said:

from an article..


So far in 2008, the trend has been that an opposing team's top receiver does not fare well against the Raiders because they have to go up against Asomugha. Note that many of the catches and yards come from plays when Asomugha was not covering the receiver.

Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons Season low in yards. Five catches, 54 yards, zero touchdowns;
Steve Smith, Carolina Panthers Worst game of the season and possibly of his career. Asomugha was his shadow the whole game. One catch, nine yards, zero touchdowns;
Laveranues New York Jets Four catches, 51 yards, zero touchdowns;
Lee Evans, Buffalo Bills Four catches, 65 yards, zero touchdowns;
Vincent Jackson, San Diego Chargers Three catches, 52 yards, zero touchdowns;
Ted Ginn Jr., Miami Dolphins Four catches, 51 yards, zero touchdowns;
Derrick Mason, Baltimore Ravens Worst game of the season. One catch, three yards, zero touchdowns.
Recall that last year, Asomugha had 35 passes thrown his way. This season, he is on pace for nowhere near that number. Through Week Six, Asomugha had only one ball thrown his way in each of those games, except against the Kansas City Chiefs, who threw a whopping two balls sent in his direction.

Click to expand...

Oh! What about Week 16 vs Houston?? He absolutely STOLE Andre Johnson's lunch money. 2 catches, 19 yds, 0 TD's. Johnson was lighting up the highlight reels and Fantasy rosters the the previous 5-6 weeks gobbling up TD after TD throughout the season.

Bad post... author of the thread jumped the gun here on two players he obviously doesnt know much about!

That CB probably would have made more on the open market hadnt AL signed him.

Wanna see bad deals ?(look up recently cut jag players. CB florence and WR Porter)

Now those were bad deals.

Nnamdi Asomugha takes out the other teams best receiver for the game.

sure the guy is the best CB in the league but this deal is absurd. It's even worse if you look inside the numbers. He gets 28.5 mil guaranteed over the first 2 years. Then if the team picks up the third year then that year is all guaranteed, 16.8 mil or the average of the top 5 which ever is higher. Which mean the contract is 100% guaranteed money. If the team doesn't pick up year 3 than they aren't allowed to franchise him. If he does play all 3 years of the contract then they can't franchise him in year 4. Here is what one NFL exec said about the deal, and I quote,

"How many different ways can you say, 'What were they thinking?' " "Insanity, stupidity, whatever you want to attach to it. Yeah, the kid is the best cornerback in the league. They paid for quality. I'll give them that. But that deal wrecks the league. Absolutely wrecks it. … I'm sure Al doesn't care, but it's deals like that that change the league for the worse."

By the way Oakland was only 4 mil under the cap before these signings. So expect even more cuts in the future. As well as they have to sign the #7 pick in the draft, which will be in the area of a 5 year deal for 36 to 40 mil.

By the way what other NFL team in this ecomomy was going to pay him that much money. The franchise tag for a CB is under 10 mil a year, and they gave him 15 for 3 years. Camp Bailey's contract is only 7 year 63 mil. Nate Clements signed the biggest CB contract ever last year and it was 8 year 80 mil with only 22 mil guaranteed. Thats a 50% increase by millions a year over the biggest CB contract ever signed, which was signed less than a year ago.

Hell his salary is double what the other 2 AFC corners in the pro bowl are combined. And its 5 mil more a year than the 2 starting NFC pro bowl corners combined..