Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is another highly underrated great who played most of his career with the Oakland Raiders.
The Raiders drafted the 6-2 210-pound Asomugha in the first round of the 2003 National Football League draft after playing safety nearby at the University of California in Berkeley. Still, the Silver and Black immediately moved him to cornerback because of his pass coverage skills.
The fact that Asomugha was so good might have cost him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Asomugha played well coming off the bench in his first two seasons with the Raiders, even though he did not make an interception, collecting a total of 83 tackles, three passes defended, a fumble recovery, and a sack.
His career took off when he became a starter in his third season.
In 2005, Asomugha made 60 tackles, including two for losses, and had 14 passes defended but didn’t have a pass interception. However, the next season, he picked off a career-high eight passes and returned them for 59 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown return against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In addition, Asomugha made 50 tackles, including 48 solos and three for losses, had 19 passes defended, a sack, a forced fumble, and one touchdown. He was named All-Pro for the first time, including by Sports Illustrated and The Associated Press. He was selected to the Pro Bowl, was chosen the Raiders’ Most Valuable Player, and received the franchise’s Commitment to Excellence Award.
Asomugha was selected as a team captain in 2007. Still, incredibly he never made more than three interceptions in a season for the rest of his brilliant career because quarterbacks simply did not test him.
“The people who throw at him usually get beat,” Coach Mike Shanahan of the Denver Broncos said in 2008. “He won’t be challenged, but he plays 100 percent on every play. He plays the run, and the pass; the guy is a competitor. He’s the most underrated top player in the game, I can’t say the game's history because I haven’t been around here that long, but I can say in my 25 years, he is by far the most underrated player.
“Well, he is the most underrated football player, to me, that I have ever been around. For people not to talk about him as the top corner in the NFL, along with Champ Bailey, to me, is a crime. Asomugha is one of my favorite players in the NFL, even though he is with the Raiders. That shows you how much I like him.”
Only 31 passes were thrown in Asomugha’s direction in 2007, and he allowed only ten completions, and an NFL scout told Pro Football Weekly that he was thrown at “less than any defender in the last ten seasons.”
It’s not like Asomugha went unrecognized.
The rest of the NFL could not completely ignore him in his eight seasons with the Raiders, and he was selected to the All-Pro team four times, played in three Pro Bowls, and was selected winner of the Byron “Whizzer” White NFL Man of the Year Award in 2009.
“Asomugha is the best (cornerback) I’ve seen in a while throughout this league,” Coach Gary Kubiak of the Houston Texans said. “He’s big, he’s fast (and) they put him out there on an island the whole game. He’s an exceptional player.”
In his eight seasons with the Raiders, Asomugha made 311 tackles, including 18 for losses, two sacks, and two quarterback sacks. He recorded two safeties and 11 interceptions, including only three after 2007 because teams simply wouldn’t throw his way.
Asomugha played two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, intercepting four more passes and one with the San Francisco 49ers.
Even though he moved on, Asomugha was chosen as one of the Greatest Oakland Raiders by the Oakland Tribune. In 2016, Pro Football Focus named Asomugha as the best Oakland Raiders player of the previous ten years, and he was selected to the NFL All-Decade Team for the 2000s.
When he retired in 2016, Asomugha signed a one-day contract with the Raiders to retire as a Silver and Black member.
After retiring from the NFL, Asomugha went into acting, and in 2017 he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Carl King in the film Crown Heights. He has appeared in numerous other movies and television shows.
“I was maybe halfway through my career, and I was shooting a Nike commercial, and the director came to the trailer and said, 'Hey man, you're really gifted at this,” Asomugha said. “I get a lot of athletes that come in, but you were prepared, and you made everything seem very natural. I really think you should look into this.”
While he is a good actor, Asomugha was a great cornerback.
The 2023 NFL Draft will go from April 27-29 and be held at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo. The club's deadline to designate Franchise or Transition Players is March 7, 2023, before 4 p.m. EST.
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