Cultural Cuisinart

So the news today was all about how the Oakland Raiders cut DeAngelo Hall from their roster. Yet another brilliant move by this miserable franchise. That means they've essentially squandered $8 million in salary/bonus money to Hall for just 8 games of performance. That's a million bucks a game, people! On top of that, they traded away their 2nd round draft pick in 2009 to the Atlanta Falcons, which with the way the Raiders are playing now, is going to come very early that round (perhaps pick #34 or 35 overall). You all know my thoughts on the value of 2nd round draft picks.

Now, reading the article I linked to from Yahoo!, it seems like the Raiders decided to cut their losses now, in order to free up money to sign their prized CB Nnamdi Asomugha to a long term deal. That makes sense, in that Asomugha is one of the few bright spots on that roster right now. However, consider the following quotes (from that same article):

“I’ve never been in a situation where you cut one of the best players,” said safety Gibril Wilson, another of the team’s offseason acquisitions. “That’s strange to me. It’s almost like we’re throwing in the towel.”

.....

“There’s been some things that have been going on, some shakeups, that I haven’t agreed with,” Asomugha said. “Like I said, I’m not allowed to speak on it because we’re just supposed to shut up and play. But you ask me if I agree with it? I don’t agree with it.”

......

“When you’re losing there’s a lot of finger pointing,” Asomugha said. “I don’t think he’s the one scapegoat. There’s fingers pointed everywhere. I don’t think it’s just him. He was kind of singled out in regards of let’s cut someone.”

Now, the question is, is Asomugha willing to stay with this sort of club at all? Is another million or so worth the grief and embarassment of playing for the Oakland Raiders? Randy Moss learned the hard way that chasing every last nickle you can squeeze out instead of finding a club where you can be happy is no way to have a good NFL career. Asomugha is going to be a highly coveted free agent that clubs will be lining up to sign. While they might not exactly match the Raiders' highest offer, those clubs are going to make competitive, fair salary offers, plus the opportunity to play for a club that isn't totally wretched and run by an insane person. If I'm close to Asomugha, I'm advising him to keep quiet and then go find a team worthy of his skill for next season.

All in all, this is a total disaster for the franchise.