A Dark Horse Emerges: Could the Green Bay Packers Land Nnamdi Asomugha?
Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News took a look at Nnamdi Asomugha’s free agency pursuits in a recent column, and he offers some pretty hard conclusions on the matter:
“Asomugha won’t be returning to the Raiders. In addition to Houston and Detroit, his other rumored destinations include Philadelphia and Green Bay. For a player who just turned 30 last Wednesday and has never made the playoffs in eight great seasons, the latter two teams are surefire paths to the postseason.”
A couple of things really stand out in those three sentences. First of all, he states right off the bat that Asomugha will not be going back to Oakland. That is a strong sentiment considering when Asomugha was younger, he re-upped with the silver and black and committed to them. However, I tend to agree that his time with the Raiders is over. Oakland showed promise last year, but Asomugha is a good businessman and he has to realize that Oakland’s Super Bowl window is much, much tighter than some of the teams on the list here.
Not so long ago, I did sort of a “Power Rankings” post on where Nnamdi Asomugha would land. The Lions, Texans, and Eagles all made my final eight, but I did not give the Packers any love on that list. I mentioned that the Packers would be an intriguing spot, but they rarely spend the money on free agents that would be required to get Asomugha.
What I failed to realize is that because Green Bay is so prudent with their finances, they likely have plenty of cap space to add Asomugha to their defense, and he is a luxury they can probably afford. If Green Bay can sign Asomugha, does that cement them as the favorites to repeat and win next year’s Super Bowl?
In my opinion, the Packers are already destined to be a dynasty in the NFL. I realize they simply got hot at the right time and only made the playoffs because the Chicago Bears basically laid down in the final regular season game, but this is a team who won the Super Bowl without a bunch of key starters, including Charles Woodson who went down in that game.
Putting Asomugha in a backfield with Tramon Williams, Woodson, second year safety Morgan Burnett, and Nick Collins could be absolute terror for opposing teams, especially since the Packers already have a stacked offense and defensive front-seven.
This is a move that makes sense for Asomugha if his goal is to simply win a title, because I think right now you have to consider Green Bay the unquestioned favorites, and possibly not just for the Super Bowl, but also to land the services of arguably the best cornerback in the NFL.