Nnamdi Asomugha spurned the New York Jets early Friday evening, instead signing a five-year, $60 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately, this move now hurts not only the Jets, but the Giants as well.
Asomugha, long regarded as one of the best defensive backs in the NFL during his seven seasons with the Oakland Raiders, was rumored to be down to either the Jets or the Dallas Cowboys earlier on Friday. The Jets were so confident they had a shot that they released both Mark Brunell and Kevin O'Connell as well as restructured a few other contracts to make enough room to haul in one of the top free agents of the offseason.
Unfortunately for the Jets, Asomugha decided to sign with the Eagles for reasons currently unknown. Not to be outdone, the Giants are hurt nearly as much as the Jets in this deal.
The Giants face the Eagles twice per season as NFC East rivals and, as everyone who has watched a Raiders game in the past will know, Asomugha all but takes away half of the football field from whichever quarterback he's facing off against (in this case, it will be Eli Manning). Not to say the Eagles were going to be an easy opponent to begin with, but their signing of Asomugha makes the match-up all the more difficult.
Either way you look at it, Asomugha probably just took away nearly his entire New York fanbase. That $60 million probably makes him feel a bit better about that, though, right?