We knew that sometime soon, TT was going to have his hands full replacing Woodson and Harris. With Harris' age and this injury putting him out for the year, it's not completely out of the question that this could be his last year in football. None of the other CBs on the team have stepped up even close to the level of Harris or Woodson.

You guys think he may make a play for Nnamdi Asomugha? His contract ran out last year, but the Raiders hit him with the franchise tag. He has yet to sign a long-term deal with Oakland, and I'm not sure if he has any interest in doing so. He's 27, and almost unanimously considered the best CB in the NFL. To put that acclaim in perspective: He only surrendered 10 complete passes last year. QB's refused to even throw his way - they only threw in his direction something like 27 times the whole year.

CB is a supremely important position. We have plenty of cap space. Asomugha is young (27), and plays a position you can easily play into your 30's.

(Sorry if this isn't the correct forum. "Players Talk" is reserved for Packers player. "Free Agents" is for free agents, and he's not (yet). NFL Talk doesn't qualify, since this isn't simply NFL Talk. The MM/TT/AR board made the most sense, since this whole topic is predicated around whether or not TT will make the move.

We'll probably make a strong play for him, and then lose out to him at the last second to New England...

I really doubt it during the season, maybe afterward if Harris retires and Williams, Lee, Blackmon and Bush fall flat. I have read somewhere (not sure where) that we couldnt prevent Scrabble from becoming a FA. Something about how the franchise tag works. He cannot be offered a contract by any team until FA starts (or the Raiders could franchise him again). Making a move this year would cost us and then we would still have to win a bidding war for his services. That is a poor move in my opinion.

I think that Ted will assess the situation after the season. Im sure he will also try to lure Scrabble to the Packers. But will the offer be good enough?

Another thought...... i read somewhere that Nnamdi Asomugha, was talking to Woodson about being tagged, and not real happy about not having a long term contract. C-Wood told him not to worry and things will work itself out. Maybe having Woodson on the pack might help land him next FA season. That's if TT sees him as an upgrade, and thinks it will help the team. Alot of ifs, but could be a possibility.

What makes people think Harris is going too retire at such an early age?

To answer the question though.... Not a chance. Nnamdi Asomugha would be a GREAT get and a huge improvement over Williams but I don't see there being a shot in hell Thompson spending that kind of money on a Free Agent. The guy is going to be one of the highsest paid players in the league at his position.

I would think people are saying this because of the type of injury. I am no doctor but found some information at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ruptured-spleen/DS00872.

Like I said I am not a doctor so I don't if this is considered career ending or not.

I see how my thread title threw you off. My saying "this year" was misleading - I meant for it to encompass the coming offseason. You're right that obviously we could never go for him during this season - the Raiders have no incentive to let him go and would want a King's ransom in return. At the very earliest, we'd have to wait until this season is done to even talk to him due to the nature of his franchise tag (as you also pointed out).

The Raiders could franchise tag him again, but it's fairly uncommon for teams to continually franchise tag a guy. Not to mention, they're probably going to be drafting high again, and with MeAngelo, Kelly, Russell and McFadden already on the roster...they can't possibly have much cap space left.

No way in hell! As I said in the Harris thread, TT doesnt even touch Free Agency til the 2nd or 3rd week. Asomugha will have a home and pretty lucrative contract by then.

TT will stick with young guys on our roster and probably another draft pick next year.

This would be my opinion as well...except Woodson's $52 million, 7-year contract makes me think there is some precedence for it. Wouldn't that be ironic?

That contract is going to be chump change compared too what Asomugha is going too rake. He is younger, just as good and isn't coming off of multiple career threatening injuries. People tend too forget that there wasn't another team in the NFL that was going to pay Woodson any sort of money to be a starting CB. We got very lucky that he was able to get by all the injury issues that almost ended his career.

Everybody think they have TT pegged, don't they?

"He hates early FA, waits till weeks 2 or 3"

"Loves his draft picks, would never trade 'em"

"He won't spend money on FA"

"He'd never trade up in a draft"

Whoops, looks like a few of those came true, huh? Just because in his time here so far, he hasn't jumped the gun in FA to sign Awful McMoneymaker to a huge deal in the first few days, doesn't mean he wouldn't ever. I would wager that it is safe to say, that 3/4ths the FA's that sign with a new team, almost always become a shell of their former selves. Very rarely does a FA create a magnitude on a team that puts them over the top. Ask the Redskins and Vikings.

I have been maybe one of the few Packers fans who hasn't really seen one game-changing FA playmaker that could have put us over beside Randy Moss. And even he said he didn't want to come to Green Bay, so he shot that one down himself. I remember, I wanted to sign Justin Griffith as FB a few years back, but in all honesty, I'd rather have Korey Hall. In fairness, Nnamdi could be one of the few that make a difference, but if he could make a difference here, I'm sure he could make a difference to the other 31 teams in the league.

Look, TT might view Asomugha as the next huge piece in getting us to the Super Bowl and he might go spend some of that money next year on him. But I doubt it, he has a myriad of extensions to certain deserving players he should probably hold his end of the bargain on.

Plus, there is always a draft right around the corner.

I don't think it is considered career threatening. There have been plenty of pro athletes that have made full recoveries from the injury. There have been players that have recovered from the injury in a month. Not holding my breathe there but I don't think this is a career ending injury. I fully expect Harris too be our starting CB next season at the latest. He is a tough SOB so he could end up coming back sooner than most as long as there aren't too many complications. Time will tell.

I think I'm going to be upset if he doesn't spend some money building a better line. I'm sick of not being able to run the ball.

Besides, Woodson didnt sign until a few weeks into the Free Agency period and outside of us and Tampa no one even made a play for him.



So wait a sec here...WE are not allowed to speculate on what TT will do based on his history, but then YOU go on to speculate the exact same thing as the rest of us.

I believe theres a word for that....HYPOCRISY!

I didn't read that in his post.

Speculate all you want about TT, just don't define him, because he has surprised us all before.

There isn't any hypocrisy in Big Dave's post, but there is irony in yours.

It's not that we can't run the ball. Its that we don't. We are ranked #15 in rushing right now. We aren't spectacular but we aren't terrible either. It drives me nuts that people fabricate things that are simply not true. We ran for 139 yards and over 5YPC against Minnesota. Ask Carolina about not being able to run the ball effectively. Their 1st round draft pick had a pitiful day against Minnesota. They ran the ball 20 times for only 47 yards with 2.4YPC.

We can run the ball, MM just chooses not to for some reason. Now if you want to argue about the Packers not running ball, I'm in agreement, they should be running more. Our RBs were averaging 4.6YPC against Dallas but only ran 16 times. That says it all. We are getting good yardage running the ball but MM just chooses not to run. Jackson picked up 20 yards on just 3 consecutive carries against Dallas. Grant is obviously struggling but that's because he just isn't up to speed. He has missed a lot of time and has been nursing that hammy.

I hope so! I doubt it, but I hope so.

FA is one area I think TT has not been active enough.

I think some people are a little too quick to jump to TT's defense when no one is even knocking him. I saw nowhere in this thread where anyone said anything degrading or "defining" him as you would say. The topic was "do you think TT will make a play for Asomugha". People responded genuinely and politely with thier answers and reasons for them.

Through TT's tenure in GB he has not been active during the first "stage" of free agency. FACT. Noone said this was a bad thing. If anything I think many of us are in agreement that so far he has been smart not to. But that gives us reason to "SPECULATE" that he will not be this year either.

Then for some reason Big Dave felt he needed to jump to TT's defense(even though noone was attacking him) and make a smug comment about posters "having TT pegged" which is fine if that is how he interpretted our posts. But nowhere in this thread did anyone bring up draft picks or the draft itself, which according to Dave, we all claimed to have TT "pegged" on. It has nothing to do with the topic!

But then after his little TT defense session, he goes on to say that he doubts TT would make a play for Asomugha which is exactly what all the people who have TT "pegged" were saying.

And if you could show where the irony is in my post it would be greatly appreciated.

He won't make a play this year. In addition, Tramon Williams deserves a chance to start. The kid has improved drastically and has earned it.

Now next year, if Oakland doesn't tag him again (which they just might), then I think Thompson will look into Asomugha.

With his playing style and close relationship with Woodson, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see Thompson sign Asomugha to a big contract. I think Thompson values the position, and if the player is worth it, he will dole out the cash.

Just because he doesn't throw around money like Washington and Minnesota doesn't mean he won't spend a lot of money on a really, really good player at a valuable position of need.

My point was Big Dave did not post anything, as you state, that posters should not speculate. You read that into his post. I believe he is actually saying the exact opposite. His point, in my opinion, was that TT has followed some pattens and then suddenly surprises us by doing something else. I did not see Big Dave's post as jumping to TTs defense, just merely stating that TT may do something different.

The irony is that you attack him for attacking other posters. Then you call him a hypocrite.

Getting back on point...

I would think that it's better then 50% chance that the Packers make a strong play for him. If the Raiders tag him it would cost the Pack two first round picks. This might sound high but the Packers draft very low in the first round. The two first round pick won't move up that high into the first round.


I have read that Asomugha is a great person. This is the type of person that the Packers would go after.

Seems to me I have hard this phrase before and I think it will apply again, TT will do his "due diligence" then draft somebody else... Just my thoughts...

RG, I wasn't pegging anyone on anything.

Cheesner saw my point, and it looks like it was reiterated in big ror's post.

OK I got ya now. I read into it more than what was meant. My bad Bro!

Nnamdi is an upgrade over Harris and Woodson, as well (unless maybe Woodson continues to channel his 1997 self). He's a freakishly good lock-down corner, and he's a perfect fit for our scheme.

I think that it would be hard to afford him if Jennings keeps playing like he's the second coming of Jerry Rice, Collins continues to have a breakout season, and Rodgers continues to play like an even above average QB.