While the Raiders have walked the line between bizarre NFL sideshow and an intriguing team unable to put together a winning season for most of this decade, one member of the club has risen above the fray. Despite playing in a less-than-stable situation, CB Nnamdi Asomugha seems to get better with each year he’s in the league and is considered arguably the best player at his position entering the 2009 season.

Oakland made him the highest-paid defensive back in league history when it signed him to a three-year deal for $45.3 million in February before he became a free agent. He’s guaranteed to make $28.6 million in the first two years of the contract, and there is a team option for the third year. As his salary has grown, so has his profile. Asomugha, 28, is involved in several philanthropic endeavors and was invited to speak about community service during the offseason at the Clinton Global Initiative, established by former President Bill Clinton.

We spoke to Asomugha at a less chaotic time, before the news broke of head coach Tom Cable’s alleged jaw-breaking punch to assistant coach Randy Hanson. Asomugha was focused on the task at hand during our discussion on Aug. 12. He didn’t even bring his cell phone with him to camp in Napa, Calif., eliminating a potential distraction, he told PFW.

During our interview, the seventh-year veteran explained why he feels more comfortable in Oakland this season, gave us an assessment of Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell and said spending money on luxury cars really isn’t his thing.

PFW: Last season it really sounded like you were unhappy with the way things were going and didn’t like some of the moves that were being made by the Raiders, the release of CB DeAngelo Hall (just eight games into the season) being one of them. But you decided to come back. Why did you make that decision?

Asomugha: I felt like we were headed in the right direction. I think a lot of time we were losing coaches, and other guys weren’t able to develop the chemistry that they wanted to. … I felt like we had the talent to win games but we just needed a little more consistency so that it could bring a little more continuity. Then they decided to keep the staff we had last year, as far as the head coach. I felt that was a good step for us because it gave us that consistency that we needed to grow, especially for some of our younger players, like our quarterback and some other guys out there. They needed consistency in order to develop their games.

PFW: Has that decision to keep Tom Cable showed up as something that has helped players develop, from what you’ve seen in training camp? Have things changed as much as you thought they would?

Asomugha: Right now I think it’s helped a lot. First, we have to get into the season and see what happens from that point, but as of right now, I’m all for change. Tom Cable runs a different training camp. He stresses in the beginning of the camp the mental aspect of camp, as opposed to the physical, so that we’re not out there getting injured and trying too hard physically and forgetting our assignments mentally. One of the problems in the past was discipline and focus.

PFW: You’ve said in the past that, initially, every year feels like this is the year you guys are going to get things turned around. Do you have the same feeling this year, or are you going in a little more skeptical?

Asomugha: It’s still looking like we have a good chance to be a good team this year. We’re still one of the more talented teams athletically through the league, as it’s usually been for us here. We can (combine that) with football knowledge and those sorts of things, and then we’ll be a step above those other teams. It still looks good for us, and I’m still going to be optimistic going into the season just because of the type of talent we have. It’s just a matter of us putting it all together and going out and actually winning the games, as opposed to using the word ‘potential’ and (saying) ‘we have a great chance,’ but we never end up doing it.

The expectation level is high, but I don’t think expectations were ever as high for everyone else as it was last year. You heard it from everywhere that this was the most talented team, and they brought in all these guys and it’s going to change this team around. People were predicting, hoping for big things from us last year. We dropped the ball in that situation. The expectation level is high, but I don’t know if you want to think about ‘oh, we’re going to the Super Bowl.’ We saw what happened when we did that last year. I think the thing this year is taking it one game at a time, one step at a time and gradually grow.

PFW: Are you happier now than you were a year ago?

Asomugha: I’m definitely happier. I think there’s a certain level of, um … well, I don’t know if I’d say happier. I’m pretty much a consistent guy, so my emotions, they never really sway one way or the other. I think I was happy going into last year. I’m happy going into this year. Maybe there’s a little more sense of comfort or sense of … I guess ‘comfort’ is the word, just knowing that I’m not playing under a one-year contract. I’m the type of person, when I’m not playing under a one-year contract, I’m able to know that there still is a couple years that we can get this thing going. It doesn’t have to happen right now. I don’t have to be worried about this and that. The contract stuff is out of the way.

PFW: What’s your assessment of how JaMarcus Russell is developing in his third year?

Asomugha: It’s a matter of just being consistent in terms of work ethic and the (extra) things that he’s doing. Whether it’s continuing to work after practice, the things that people don’t really see that I get to see. He’s one of those guys that really wants to succeed in this league. As long as he continues doing that, he’ll improve. His reads are getting quicker; he’s putting a better touch on the ball. He’s got to translate that into games now. We’ll see where it goes.

PFW: There was a story that ran during the weekend of the recent Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and inductee Rod Woodson was quoted talking about you. He said there weren’t many players that wanted to ‘get it’ on the Raiders team he played on at the end of his career, but you were one of the few. Do you feel like there are enough guys on the Raiders now that really want to ‘get it’?

Asomugha: Based on the team we have now, I haven’t been able to dissect each guy. From the standpoint of the guys I do know on the team, I think the majority of them want it and want to understand and want to get to that level. But there’s a big difference in life between wanting something and being willing to do what it takes to get there. That’s just a stretch of your own character. No one person can say, ‘Oh yeah, that person is willing to do it or that person puts it on the line.’ That’s something that you have to be honest and up-front with yourself about. From the outset, looking in at this team, I think we have a great number of players that want to be great and want to be the best. It’s just a matter of going out and doing it.

PFW: You’re not really a secret anymore. You were an under-the-radar guy for a few years, but in the past year it seems like people have really caught on to your game. There are big features about you in national publications, and I’m sure more people know how to pronounce your last name now. Do you get the sense that more people are aware of you now? You say you’re a steady guy, but does that level of fame have any effect on you?

Asomugha: No. I think it’s nice. You always want to go out and earn the respect of not only your peers and colleagues and coaches around the league, but also from the fans. I know a lot of times (they see that you have a million-dollar contract), but you’re not going to go out there making a million plays.

But for people around the league that actually watch film and notice that you’re talented … it’s good to get that type of respect. I think it’s grown a little bit more with each year I’ve been in the league.

PFW: I’ve heard that you had been taking some flak for driving a 1997 gold Maxima. When you got the new deal, was it time to pick yourself up a new vehicle, or are you still rolling with the same old car?

Asomugha: I’ve got a couple cars, but I’ve never really been a car guy. There are a lot of people that I know that are in love with cars and get tons of them. But cars have never interested me in that way. I have just a moderate level of interest in them. That’s why it’s not a big deal. As long as the car looks nice and it can run. But you know, people make such a big deal out of the fact that I don’t have the nicest cars — the Ferraris and Lamborghinis — and I just think it’s so over the top. I’m not interested in cars like that. I have other interests.

PFW: What are those other interests?

Asomugha: I just like traveling. Traveling overseas. Different things. I’m from Nigeria, so growing up, we had to go back and forth to Nigeria every other year, and I have family in London and in so many different places … Germany. We’ve had to travel a lot growing up, and that was the thing that I fell in love with. I like to go out and travel.

PFW: Any place you really want to check out that you have not been to yet?

Asomugha: Oh, there are several. I’ve never been to Italy, Brazil. There’s so many places that I’d like to go. Australia.

PFW: I know you take a number of high school students on an educational tour each year. You took this year’s group to New York. Do you know where you’re going to be going next year?

Asomugha: No, it’s not down on paper yet. There are a few different ideas. I’ll narrow it down. Probably by the end of the year I’ll start thinking about that. There’s nothing at the top of the list right now. I’ve thought about the East Coast again. … I’ll figure it out in December probably.

Kickoff is coming! Be sure to buy copies of the Pro Football Weekly/Yahoo! Sports 2009 NFL preview magazine, as well as the Pro Football Weekly/Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football Guide 2009, both of which are now available at bookstores, newsstands and retail outlets where magazines are sold. Or order your copies online at PFWStore.com.