"Nnamdi Asomugha. Shane Lechler. One or the other. Take your pick. Can't have both.
Both players are Pro Bowl selections. Both are unrestricted free agents at season's end. Only one is likely to be back with the Raiders next season.
Such is the poor timing of matters that two of the Raiders' most valuable players are potential free agents in the same year, and only one can be prevented from signing with another team.
Cornerback Asomugha figures to be that player for the second straight season. The Raiders used the exclusive franchise tag on him this season. That guaranteed him $9.765 million and prohibited other teams from pursuing him.
As for Lechler, he knows nothing other than the Raiders in terms of NFL experience. He was drafted by the Raiders in 2000 and is one of their two longest-tenured players along with kicker Sebastian Janikowski. Lechler is on the verge of free agency unless the Raiders offer a contract extension that he accepts between now and the end of February.
The Raiders all but tipped their hand on which way they are leaning in terms of applying the franchise tag designation by signing free agent punter Ricky Schmitt on Monday. Teams with four-time Pro Bowl punters don't sign undrafted free agent punters without any NFL experience.
That is, unless there's a chance of losing the Pro Bowl punter. On Thursday, Raiders coach Tom Cable admitted as much, saying Schmitt was signed, in part, as a "just-in-case" insurance policy.
Cregg fallout
Raiders coach Tom Cable made no attempt to hide his displeasure with assistant offensive line coach James Cregg's resigning last Sunday night so that he could accept a job with fired Raiders coach Lane Kiffin at the University of Tennessee.
Cable said Cregg quit on him, Oakland's offensive linemen and the organization. He said walking away from the offensive linemen is "about as bad a deal as you could possibly do to that group of guys."
Left guard Robert Gallery took a more diplomatic approach."