When you're the best player on a given free agent market, there are going to be a lot of rumors surrounding your name. Right now, Nnamdi Asomugha can vouch.
When free agency started on Tuesday morning, the New York Jets quickly established themselves as the frontrunner for Asomugha's services. And even though they signed wide receiver Santonio Holmes to a big deal on Wednesday afternoon, they did not pull out of the chase for the former Oakland Raiders cornerback.
Naturally, the Jets aren't alone. With the team set to release veteran corner Nate Clements on Thursday, the word around the campfire is that the San Francisco 49ers would love to add Asomugha to their own defense.
Talk about two completely different scenarios. If Asomugha goes to New York, he would join a surefire Super Bowl contender, and he would also be lining up next to one of the best corners in the game in Darrelle Revis. Signing with the Jets would also allow Asomugha to get that much closer to the post-football acting career that he apparently covets.
If Asomugha goes to the 49ers, on the other hand, he will be joining a team with a pretty dire outlook for 2011, and he will also be joining a defense that will likely be on the field quite a bit thanks to the team's inept offense.
However, ESPN's John Clayton says that we shouldn't count the Niners out of the Asomugha sweepstakes.
On Wednesday night, Clayton tweeted that there are two reasons Asomugha might pick the Niners. The first is that it would allow him to stay in the Bay Area, where he has been stationed for over a decade now, playing first for Cal and then for the Raiders. The second is that Asomugha might be drawn in by the idea of helping the 49ers push for a new stadium.
Presumably, the 49ers can offer Asomugha more money too, as they haven't exactly spent the first two days of the free agency period handing out big contracts.
So if the question is whether or not the 49ers can offer Asomugha things the Jets can't match, the answer is that they can actually offer quite a few things. Difference-making things at that.
Now that we know that, the pressure is on the Houston Texans to entice Asomugha. John McClain of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Texas are "working hard" on Asomugha, just as many people thought they would.
What we have here, folks, is a good old fashioned bidding war. Should be fun.
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