Will Nnamdi Asomugha's Contract Destroy the NFL?
Is His $45 Million Deal Too Rich for the League's Own Good?
Asomugha's $9.765 million salary in 2008 was already the highest at his position, and the increase of roughly 50 percent boggled many minds.
Says one team exec, who declined to be identified: "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."
Did Raiders owner Al Davis sign the deal with this reaction in mind? Was he just looking to cause a bit of misery for the other teams? While he's certainly capable of such an thing, in this case he might deserve the benefit of the doubt.
The Raiders are an NFL team with 24 wins over the last six years. That's two fewer wins than the Detroit Lions managed in the same period of time, even after the Lions generously posted zero wins in 2008.
In a league where losing teams are rewarded with high draft choices and weak schedules, Davis' Raiders refuse to improve. With five coaches over those same six years, they are nobody's picture of stability, or even sanity. Asomugha was saying all the right things during the contract negotiation, but the opportunity to escape such a dismal environment had to be tempting.
Imagine you're Al Davis in a rare moment of lucidity. You have turned a once-proud NFL franchise into a punchline, but you understand that losing your star cornerback would only make the laughing louder. You decide to keep Asomugha, but what does that entail? Simply paying his market value is not enough. Plenty of teams would pay his market value, and most of them don't have their logos next to the word "dysfunction" in the dictionary. In order to keep your star cornerback, you don't just have to pay for his value as a player. You have to compensate him for giving up three more years of his career in a city where he's unlikely to get a whiff of the Lombardi Trophy, or maybe even a playoff game.
Paying this kind of money is a losing strategy, as any fantasy sports player will tell you. In a salary cap league, value matters. If you overpay for a few stars, you end up with Justin Fargas at running back. But the economy works differently in Oakland, and until they can pass the laugh test as a legitimate football organization, quality
players will come with a high price tag.
Will this damage the league? That's up to the individual teams. Sports agents will certainly seize upon the deal as an excuse to demand huge increases for their clients, but that's what sports agents do. No one is required to follow Al Davis off of this particular cliff. The only way it wrecks the league is if NFL execs are dumb enough to let that happen.
OK, it wrecks the league.
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/around_the_nfl/post/Execs-taken-aback-by-Asomugha-Lechler-deals?urn=nfl,142741&cp=2
Published by Mike Cullen
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2 Comments
Post a CommentMight've been a little much on the money front, but letting the BEST Corner in the league leave your organization is a non-starter.
If you follow the Raiders on any sort of regular basis, like its legions of fans, you would be well aware that Big Al pays big money for good players (and sometimes questionable players, but big names) in FA. Why would he let the best hit the FA market? He wouldn't.
Has he made some boneheaded moves in the past (aka last year's FA debacle)? absolutely, but not this time. Locking up Nnamdi and Shane were the best thing Al has done in quite a few years. Ok, cutting the mistakes from last year rank a very close second. Big signs of turining things around. Because of that alone, I am renewing my season tickets.
I agree with Jason's earlier post, what's killing the league is the rookie contracts. Paying kids who don't even have one practice in the NFL, let alone one regular season snap getting all that money is ridiculous. The owners really do need to
What team do you follow? Laughing stock is true. Im a devoute Raiders fan and moves have been mind boggling over the past six years. Odviously your not a Raiders fan, because if you where you would know that this (over paid yes!)is the smartest move in years around the nation. Nandi is not the type of player that plays for money. If he was he would have held out last year. He did not!!!!! This is a man who has worked himself into this contract. Top ten picks getting $70 mil in gaurenteed money is killing the league. THis is one of the few player that I have seen in my generation ( im 25) that playes for the love of the game. Don't lump Nandi in with the likes of Chad Johnson or TO, they play for money, Nandi plays for love....