The moment it was announced that Nnamdi Asomugha was likely to become a free agent this offseason, two potential landing spots emerged right away: Green Bay and Philadelphia.
Asomugha has a close relationship with Packers’ corner Charles Woodson, making Green Bay an obvious choice. Philadelphia is in need of a defensive back and there have been whispers that they’re willing to pay to pair Asomugha up with Asante Samuel.
But as Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com writes, the odds of Asomugha landing in Green Bay might be lower than people think.
I’ve tended to shy away from any anticipation of this move, knowing that Packers general manager Ted Thompson strongly prefers developing his own starters and depth through the draft. The Packers also are relatively well-stacked at cornerback with Woodson, Tramon Williams and Sam Shields. Williams is 27 and Shields is 23, and there is a strong possibility all NFL teams will be back to dealing with a salary cap when a new collective bargaining agreement is reached.
But don’t take it from me. Woodson himself downplayed the possibility during an interview with Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com. While he would be willing to move to safety to make the arrangement work, Woodson said he wasn’t sure if it would come to that.
Woodson: “I’m not doing any recruiting. We’ve texted a few times about winning a Super Bowl. Nothing really about his future I don’t know what’s going on about him and Oakland or anything else. When I look at our team and I look at young Sam and Tramon, (I think), ‘Where’s he going to fit? How is that possibly going to work out?’ I think that would be the first question you have to ask.”
As Seifert points out, even though Thompson did pluck Woodson off the free agent market a couple of years ago, he prefers to build his roster through the draft. The team is also very high on Shields, who is expected to take over for Woodson one day.
Simply put, the Packers don’t need to spend big on Asomugha. Would Thompson love to have a talent such as Asomugha in his defensive backfield? Sure, just as any GM would. But it seems unlikely at this point that the Packers would pull the trigger on a move like that and have Woodson move to safety when he’s still playing corner at a Pro Bowl-level.
Philadelphia would seemingly be the front-runners at this point to land Asomugha’s services.
