Many consider him as: a shut-down corner, the best in the league, and maybe even the best ever.
But I have to disagree. Nnamdi may even be considered a draft bust. As he was drafted to play free-safety not corner. A dominant safety like Ed Reed, Brian Dawkins, or Troy Polamalu are far more influential than a dominant corner like Nnamdi Asomugha, Charles Woodson, or Darrelle Revis.
But that is beside the point. Nnamdi failed as a safety and now he is a corner.
As a corner, with his safety background, he has a lot of upside. Safeties see the whole defense and offense in front of them. So they are required to understand nearly every aspect of the game: all defensive assignments, how to read the O-line, how to read the QB and how to read receivers.
Nnamdi has a far greater understanding of the game than most corners, because he is a safety at heart, that is what makes him great.
Nnamdi also went to Cal Berkley so he's obviously no dummy.
Nnamdi is also very physical and as far as corners go he is among the best open field tacklers. Because of this he is great at jamming receivers at the line scrimmage as well as helping in run support.
The best shut down corner? This Nnamdi is not, he may be one of the smartest best tackling corners but he is not the best shutdown corner.
Nnamdi only plays one side of the field. Specifically, he plays the defensive right exclusively. This gives him a huge advantage.
Most of the NFLs' QBs are right-handed. So Nnamdi is almost always on the QBs blind side.
Defenses also tend to put the best pass-rusher on the defensive right, the QBs blind side. Because of this the QB is often flushed to the defensive left, away from Nnamdi.
Right handed QBs are also far more comfortable rolling out to the their right...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
