Stanford

Routt

The numbers reported by NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora are $19.6 million with a $4 million signing bonus. It’s starter money, and makes it likely that the Chiefs will let free agent CB Brandon Carr break the bank on the open market. Expect Dwayne Bowe to get the franchise tag. Routt, who turns 29 before the season, is a press-man corner and fits Romeo Crennel’s scheme. While he allowed too many touchdown passes (8) and committed too many penalties (17) last year, Routt posted career highs in interceptions (4) and pass breakups (15). Pro Football Focus graded Routt as the NFL’s 19th-best corner in terms of coverage. While Carr will command more money, PFF had him 21st.

“We want to have competition everywhere that it’s possible to have it,” Cable said. “There’s a pretty good battle right there.” Johnson is the favorite to win the job.

Johnson was always favored to win the job, but was getting pushed by Stanford Routt. Routt was burned repeatedly Thursday night and seems to have fallen way behind Johnson.

Stanford Routt will stay at nickel back and Nnamdi Asomugha will now be the LCB. Owner Al Davis is high on Johnson, a return man for most of his six-year career. None of the countless teams he’s been on have ever thought Johnson could cover. And the mess in Oakland gets even messier.

Johnson projects as the starter opposite Stanford Routt. It’s not a lock as Johnson has performed average at best in recent seasons, but he’ll only have to beat out the likes of Jeremy Ware, Walter McFadden, DeMarcus Van Dyke, and Chimdi Chekwa. The Raiders are clearly going to miss Nnamdi Asomugha.

The move is stunning, until you consider the team making it. Routt, no more than a nickel back who’s been routinely toasted when forced into spot starts, will collect over $3 million in 2010. We’re quite sure he wouldn’t have drawn strong interest had Oakland assigned Routt a far less expensive original pick or second-round tender. Routt did run a blistering forty time coming out of the University of Houston in 2005. So that probably explains it.

Perhaps now the NFL’s highest paid nickel back, Routt missed out on his chance to start after the Raiders found no takers for Nnamdi Asomugha during the draft. Routt, 27 in July, has five starts and zero interceptions over the last two seasons. He was a liability against both the run and pass last year, but Al Davis loves his size-speed combination (4.3, 6'1/195).

A longtime Al Davis favorite because of his 4.3 wheels, Routt was a priority with the Raiders set to lose Nnamdi Asomugha to free agency. Turning 28 this July, Routt was overpaid at just over $3M last season, so the Raiders wouldn’t be smart to exceed that number on an annual basis. They almost certainly will, though. Routt has two interceptions in his last 47 games (20 starts).

You read that correctly. No team in the league values Routt as highly as the Raiders. They managed to drastically overpay even though they were essentially bidding against themselves. Routt is a versatile corner sporting an impressive catch rate last season, but it’s laughable to hand him two-thirds of Nnamdi Asomugha’s salary.