Did Rex Ryan, Jets Tamper With Nnamdi Asomugha?
With the obscure news surfacing that Nnamdi Asomugha’s contract with the Oakland Raiders has been voided because of a failure to reach incentives, a lot of talk is springing up about a possible Darrelle Revis-Asomugha cornerback duo in New York next season. That would obviously be a deadly combination and create one of the most prolific cornerback tandems of all time if it happened. If that’s all you’re thinking about, you’re missing the big picture.
The thought of Revis and Asomugha playing together has become a topic because of comments Nnamdi made following the Pro Bowl last season. ESPN’s Tim Graham caught up with the Raiders’ franchise corner following that game, and here’s what he had to say about the potential of playing alongside Revis.
Oakland Raiders star Asomugha was smiling when he brought up the dream scenario, but insisted he was “dead serious” and has spoken to New York Jets coach Rex Ryan about it.
“Me and Revis have been talking to Rex to try to do something,” Asomugha said. “You may see us in the future. There’s a little bit of talk going on. Either he’s coming to Oakland or something else will happen.”
How is that not raising the red flag for more people? Mostly everyone who has written about the idea has talked about how much the duo could terrorize opposing quarterbacks and how phenomenal the Jets’ secondary would be. Lost in the salivation has been the fact that Asomugha admitted Rex Ryan talked to him about joining the Jets while he was clearly still under contract with the Raiders. Tampering, anyone?
As we all know, coaches and players are not supposed to talk about the contract status of players that they don’t have the rights to. They’re definitely not supposed to talk to them about joining their team in the future. No one seems to care with the Miami Heat except Dan Gilbert, but Asomugha’s flapping gums may have created an enormous hurdle for the Jets to leap if they plan on trying to add him to their roster this offseason. If I were Robert Kraft, I’d have already called Roger Goodell.
