Weight of big money

You will hear the phrase "Nnamdi Asomugha is the highest-paid defensive back in Football" many times this year. It means mostly nothing. It also means quite a lot. It just depends on the circumstances. Asomugha, the Raiders' elite cornerback, says it's Option A - nothing. "I'm not going to do anything different than what I've always done," he said Thursday morning after the first of eight noncontact practices at Raiders training camp. "I'm no slacker." On the other hand, Asomugha is no naif. He knows what money does to everyone and everything - except maybe his ability to guard Vincent Jackson, Dwayne Bowe, Jeremy Maclin or Andre Johnson. First, though, the money - $28.5 million over the next two years, both guaranteed, and an option for a third year and an additional $16.8 million, also guaranteed. It is essentially Asomugha's acknowledgement that the Raiders were going to declare him their franchise player for the next two years, and his extraction of a third guaranteed year at a raise well beyond the likely franchise number. It is a deal so sweet for the player in such a financially cruel game that one is surprised the NFL office didn't contrive a way to disallow it, just for the worrisome precedent it sets. But it acknowledges that Al Davis doesn't let money stand in the way of a shut-down cornerback, and that Asomugha can live with a bird in the hand if the bird is the size of a pterodactyl. And the downside of money, also known 'round these parts as the Zito Effect, doesn't gnaw too much at Asomugha's soul. He is aware of the dangers that others attach to it, and how those dangers can adhere to him. "I think some people might think that, that the money means you have to be someone else and do more than you ever did before," he said Thursday morning. "But I don't think that. I don't think the money has to change who you are." As verification, he still drives his gold Maxima - hardly the ride of a spendthrift. He also owns a 2004 Mercedes S500, which is worth roughly 2 percent of this year's take-home pay. But it isn't the money that kills you, it's the weight. Even the cornerback who defends fewer passes than any other defensive back in the NFL understands that. "I've made a lot of money before this, but I get the idea about the biggest contract and all that," he said. "I know that there will be people on the team, in the stands, who will get that in their heads and want me to be something more, do more things. I've been a team leader like others have, but it's not something you stand up and say on your own. It has to just evolve." Problem is, there isn't much he hasn't done already, so there isn't much more upon which to evaluate him. When he speaks of the new veterans and their leadership capabilities based on playoff experience, like Greg Ellis, Lorenzo Neal and Jeff Garcia, it also dawns on him that his own experiences have import as well. They're not good experiences, true - his six Raiders teams have been over .500 for only one of 102 weeks - but he has as much to show Ellis and Neal and Garcia as they do him. "They have things to share about what it takes to be a playoff team, but it can't be things like 'work hard and practice the right way,' " Asomugha said. "They'll have to understand how things have been around here as well, what to expect and how to help turn it around." Asomugha sounds like what he is - a 28-year-old man who has seen and done much, and been rewarded commensurately. But his hesitation to sign a long-term deal in the past reflected his reservations about the direction of the franchise, and his decision to sign this one is in part an acknowledgement that the Raiders would not let him go easily, that he has to commit to the Tom Cable regime out of simple logic. He is where he is, he has chosen to make his stand here at the apex of his career, and he cannot let the money defeat him, either by sapping his desire or will to get something more from his Football career. When he says, "I'm no slacker," there is a rare jagged edge to his voice. The money is nice, and the novelty is better, and he's already proven that he is as worthy of it as any Football player can be of such an extraordinary sum. But the money also has the power to rot the soul, especially in such a risk-heavy sport and on a team that has been so light on rewards. This is the biggest payday Nnamdi Asomugha will ever know, and the biggest test of his competitive character. Looks like a fair fight from here. Top pick signs Darrius Heyward-Bey signed a $38.25 million deal and reported to work. B7