With most analysts coming to the conclusion that Oakland Raiders pro-bowl cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha will not re-signw ith the Raiders next season, the Raiders number two cornerback, Stanford Routt is ready to step in and take charge of the secondary.
Many Raiders fans have a love hate relationship with Routt. Some love him because his stats (especially burn percentage) were among the top cornerbacks last season. Meanwhile, others who do not buy into stats hate Routt after routinely seeing him trying to catch up to receivers who just made a catch after leaving the speedy Routt in the dust.
However, for those who are not fans of Routt, he made a convincing argument as to why he would be ready to step up to the plate in an interview on Sirius XM on Wednesday.
Routt pointed made two particularly interesting arguments as to why he will be ready should Nnamdi leave the Raiders. Routt first pointed to the fact that it was the departure of Charles Woodson that allowed Nnamdi to step up and turn into one of the best corners in the league.
In addition, Routt noted that he often played as the number one corner for all intents and purposes last season. Nnamdi’s skill is no secret in the NFL and as a result, it was a routine practice of teams playing the Raiders to line up their best wide recievers opposite Nnamdi and for quarterbacks to only attack the side of the field that Nnamdi was not playing on.
Routt still has a lot of work to do if he wants to become a solid number one cornerback in the NFL, but based on his comments on Sirius XM, it looks as though he is mentally prepared for the next step in his career. Now we wait to find out if his play on the field will match his mental preparedness.