Raiders Blog and Q&A: Nnamdi's headed to New England

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Raiders Blog and Q&A

News, observations and reader questions about the Oakland Raiders

April 14, 2008

Nnamdi's headed to New England

No. He's not going to play for the Patriots. But I bet some of you clicked on the link just to make sure the Raiders' franchise cornerback wasn't bolting.

Nnamdi Asomugha is an exclusive franchise player, so he can't negotiate with other teams.

I was able to catch up Asomugha this afternoon as he prepares to take six Oakland students on a tour of colleges and cultural exhibits in the Boston and Rhode Island (or as Raiders fans might say, stinkin� New England) area.

I�ve received several emails asking a lot about Asomugha�s feelings about being franchised and watching the Raiders then sign another cornerback, DeAngelo Hall, to a seven-year deal worth up to $70 million.

Here�s the short of it:

No he�s not mad.

He hasn�t spoken to Hall.

He�s working out in Los Angeles and will be ready for the season.

�I�m just letting (agent) Steve (Baker) handle it,� Asomugha said of contract negotiations.

Asomugha is a favorite of just about everyone at team headquarters in Alameda so expect the team to try to lock him up long term.

So don�t worry, there will be more of this in 2008:

Asomugha�s stayed busy by taking classes at the Harvard Business School through the NFL and preparing for the college tour with students from the East Oakland Youth Development Center.

There�s a lot of work Asomugha does with EOYDC that he doesn�t publicize. I�ve written about some of the excursions he�s taken students on the previous two offeseasons because (believe it or not) I like writing stories about athletes doing good things.

The group leaves Oakland late Tuesday and will spend five days back east.

Visit http://www.eoydc.org/ for more on the center and look for pictures from the tour to be posted.

I�ll be writing more about Nnamdi�s work off the field later this week for the newspaper.

That�s right, another positive Raider story.

--Jason Jones

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Paul was born in Barstow and attended Barstow Community College before transferring to UNLV, sadly, after Ickey Woods, Randall Cunningham, Keenan McCardell and Suge Knight had made the Rebels a football, um, powerhouse. Paul has worked for Sports Illustrated, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Los Angeles Times and The Bee. While stringing for the Barstow Desert Dispatch, Paul was about 10 yards away from Bo Jackson when he suffered his career-ending hip injury in a 1991 playoff game at the L.A. Coliseum against the Cincinnati Bengals.