Raiders’ Routt may not be in the slot for long

By Anthony Carroll  |   Thursday, May 15, 2008  |  Comments( 46 )

Oakland Raiders
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Believe it or not, there are members of the Oakland Raiders who were on the roster last season.

A busy offseason has shifted the attention to the new guys, but plenty of Raider vets are also heading into pivotal 2008 seasons.

One of those players is soon-to-be-fourth-year cornerback Stanford Routt. The former second-round pick led all Raiders defensive backs last season in interceptions with three after stealing away a starting CB job from the recently traded Fabian Washington.

In 47 games with Oakland, Routt has registered 88 tackles, 10 passes defended and four interceptions.

Now, Washington is permanently gone after being traded to Baltimore on draft weekend for a fourth-round pick. The starting job opposite No. 1 corner Nnamdi Asomugha would have gone to Routt by default; however, the prior acquisition of two-time Pro Bowler DeAngelo Hall shifts Routt back into a familiar place -- third cornerback.

Despite being the 38th overall player chosen in the ‘05 draft, Routt started in only four games in his first two seasons in the NFL. It wasn’t until last season that defensive coordinator Rob Ryan gave Routt a permanent starting nod.

Now, with $9.8 million invested in Asomugha this season and $66.28 million invested in Hall over the next seven years, Routt is looking like he'll be much less involved in the Raiders’ secondary, at least as far as the books are concerned.

Routt will earn $520,000 this season and $545,000 in ‘09 before becoming a free agent in 2010. The Raiders also have two young defensive backs waiting in the wings in fourth-round picks John Bowie (2007) and Tyvon Branch (2008); although, as it appears now, Branch will be making a shift to safety.

For Routt, it’ll be nearly impossible -- pending injuries or a series of major slip-ups from either Asomugha or Hall -- to move into either of the starting CB slots this season. However, it also appears that Routt will be very hard to replace as the primary slot corner.

With the limited one-year tag on Asomugha, though, Routt could make a strong case for himself heading into the 2009 campaign, when Oakland’s heavy spending will begin to catch up on it and keeping Asomugha will be almost financially impossible.

If the 6-foot-1, 195-pounder can prove to be a reliable defender next season, letting Asomugha go may not be such a difficult task, despite his tremendous performance over the past two seasons. It’ll also save the Raiders plenty of money because Asomugha’s price tag has been pushed up considerably since 2006 and franchise tagging him once more would likely cost the team more than $10 million.

“I see myself as a full-time starter right now,” Routt said last season. “No matter what the situation is, I’m usually in the game.”

If Routt plays well enough in the slot in 2008, he’ll certainly find himself on the field in 2009. And, as hard as it may be for Oakland, Asomugha will likely be playing in a different city.

Anthony Carroll can be contacted at
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About Anthony Carroll

Anthony Carroll began writing for RealFootball365.com on Sept. 26, 2005, making him one of the longest tenured contributors to the “365” team. As a senior writer, Anthony has taken on the task of delivering original content to the silver and black faithful year round, despite having to deal...
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