Lavar Gone

[#56fanatic]

Players know when someone is good or over hyped. LaVar is a good LB. Alot of teams will be begging the coach or GM to go out and get him. Especially ones who have played with him(pierce, trotter) Whether or not he played within this system or that system, to say he didn't like doing this or didn't like doing that is hear say. Show me a coach saying he didn't study film, or he didn't work on this or that. I do believe I heard Joe and GW last year praising him for his work in the film room and practice field.(when he started playing) I agree with one guy out here,forgot your ID man, we will miss LaVar more as a Redskin than what he has actually done on the field the last two years. there is no debate we played pretty damn good without him. However, I feel sorry for those who have doubted his ability lately. He is going to prove alot of people wrong, and I have a feeling he will purposely chose and NFC east team so he can stick it in Joes, GW, and Dannys ass every time they play us.

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

You act like LaVar is a disruption to the team. There are going to be a ton of teams out there trying to bring him in. They wont need to be persuaded into signing him. Right now there is said to be 10 teams, all the NFC east teams are some of them. Parcells, not interested in #56, are you crazy! He is the mold of LT, passionate, looking to kill the QB, fast, strong, great athlete. I think it will be hard for him not to sign him.

He was at some point, though that gets into a complicated mess w/his notorious agents & who was to blame for starting that. I don't know that any of us can make that call in the $ dispute, but as fans we have read that several coaches dating back to P.St. have been frustrated w/his freelancing (see an earlier post, believe it was mattyk).
don't get me wrong, I'm a lavar fan & i really wanted to see him stay & mature, but don't overstate his performance, he's a home run hitter, which means he also strikes out a lot. He was stunted by the coaching turnover (as today's wilbon article points out), but he's never seemed to play disciplined in any system.
If parcells wants him where will they play him? Strongside linebacker? Move D. Ware to strongside & put Lavar at weakside. That might work best, but then they'd have their best pass rusher, Ware, over the tight end. Somebody would be unhappy. I'm not crazy, but comparing LA to LT seems close. I could see him in Dallas only if they got him for a very cheap price, say $1 mil/year w/bonus at 2-3 mil. The Giants, that seems more likely. Of course a lot of other teams will be interested in him, he's only 27. According to espn.com a lot of teams were interested in 31 yr. old Derek Smith, but that doesn't make him a hall of famer.

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

Players know when someone is good or over hyped. LaVar is a good LB. Alot of teams will be begging the coach or GM to go out and get him. Especially ones who have played with him(pierce, trotter) Whether or not he played within this system or that system, to say he didn't like doing this or didn't like doing that is hear say. Show me a coach saying he didn't study film, or he didn't work on this or that. I do believe I heard Joe and GW last year praising him for his work in the film room and practice field.(when he started playing) I agree with one guy out here,forgot your ID man, we will miss LaVar more as a Redskin than what he has actually done on the field the last two years. there is no debate we played pretty damn good without him. However, I feel sorry for those who have doubted his ability lately. He is going to prove alot of people wrong, and I have a feeling he will purposely chose and NFC east team so he can stick it in Joes, GW, and Dannys ass every time they play us.

I agree, I think he'll play better for someone now (as I'd posted earlier) that he'll have something to prove & will likely be more disciplined. Wish he could've stayed here & grown up as a professional more.
As for film study, see Trotter's comments from last year - he said that 'if Lavar studied film & treated the job as a pro', he would great. Sad thing is, this might be lavar's wakeup call.

[sportscurmudgeon]

Sorry to be so late with a comment but I've been in East Africa for the past two weeks.

This rupture between Arrington and the Redskins happened two years ago when there was the dispute over his contract and the Redskins played hard-ball with him. Yes, they had the signed contract on their side, but they CHOSE to play hardball and that put a crack in the "Redskin-for-life" posture. Then there was the business about how the team "mishandled" his injury two seasons ago and don't forget how he said he didn't know why he wasn't playing last year and Gibbs said he spent more time talking to LaVar than he did with any other player he ever coached. The relationship there was headed south...

Folks, this was a train wreck happening and all you had to do was take off the burgundy colored glasses and you'd see it. Who's to blame? Probably everyone involved here. And it won't do a damned bit of good to try to assess the blame.

Here's the deal. Gibbs and Williams want a "system defense" made up of highly disciplined players who carry out their assignments. LaVar Arrington does not prefer to play football that way and there was fundamental friction there and there would have been friction there in the future if he stayed.

The question in my mind is why didn't the Skins figure out a way to get Coles to pay them to become a free agent last year? If someone doesn't want to stay here and the coaches don't want to have them around all that much, wouldn't it be nice to make them pay the team $4M for the privilege of leaving town?

By my calculation, Arrington is out $4M at the moment. He was not likely ever to see the $6.5M roster bonus he was supposed to get this summer so that is not any real loss to him. Now what he needs to do is to get a deal that pays him a $4M signing bonus plus a base salary this year bigger than the one he had last year and he's ahead of the game. At age 27, he's likely to get that.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

The question in my mind is why didn't the Skins figure out a way to get Coles to pay them to become a free agent last year? If someone doesn't want to stay here and the coaches don't want to have them around all that much, wouldn't it be nice to make them pay the team $4M for the privilege of leaving town?

coles offered, but if he paid, they wouldn't have gotten anythign in return for him. Moss and his currently undervalued contract is a much better deal than the 5mill.

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Sorry to be so late with a comment but I've been in East Africa for the past two weeks.

This rupture between Arrington and the Redskins happened two years ago when there was the dispute over his contract and the Redskins played hard-ball with him. Yes, they had the signed contract on their side, but they CHOSE to play hardball and that put a crack in the "Redskin-for-life" posture. Then there was the business about how the team "mishandled" his injury two seasons ago and don't forget how he said he didn't know why he wasn't playing last year and Gibbs said he spent more time talking to LaVar than he did with any other player he ever coached. The relationship there was headed south...

Folks, this was a train wreck happening and all you had to do was take off the burgundy colored glasses and you'd see it. Who's to blame? Probably everyone involved here. And it won't do a damned bit of good to try to assess the blame.

Here's the deal. Gibbs and Williams want a "system defense" made up of highly disciplined players who carry out their assignments. LaVar Arrington does not prefer to play football that way and there was fundamental friction there and there would have been friction there in the future if he stayed.

The question in my mind is why didn't the Skins figure out a way to get Coles to pay them to become a free agent last year? If someone doesn't want to stay here and the coaches don't want to have them around all that much, wouldn't it be nice to make them pay the team $4M for the privilege of leaving town?

By my calculation, Arrington is out $4M at the moment. He was not likely ever to see the $6.5M roster bonus he was supposed to get this summer so that is not any real loss to him. Now what he needs to do is to get a deal that pays him a $4M signing bonus plus a base salary this year bigger than the one he had last year and he's ahead of the game. At age 27, he's likely to get that.

jambo bwana! caribu
The cba situation gave the team leverage as opposed to Coles' situation last year. Also, I think Coles called them on a "promise" to release him, one of Gibbs' mistakes not to be repeated.
The "hardball" stance that the skins took probably had as much to do w/his agents than w/Lavar. I think Snyder took it personally that Lavar sided w/the postons (who Danny hates) over him more than just the issue of $6.5 mil.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

Players know when someone is good or over hyped. LaVar is a good LB. Alot of teams will be begging the coach or GM to go out and get him. Especially ones who have played with him(pierce, trotter) Whether or not he played within this system or that system, to say he didn't like doing this or didn't like doing that is hear say. Show me a coach saying he didn't study film, or he didn't work on this or that. I do believe I heard Joe and GW last year praising him for his work in the film room and practice field.(when he started playing) I agree with one guy out here,forgot your ID man, we will miss LaVar more as a Redskin than what he has actually done on the field the last two years. there is no debate we played pretty damn good without him. However, I feel sorry for those who have doubted his ability lately. He is going to prove alot of people wrong, and I have a feeling he will purposely chose and NFC east team so he can stick it in Joes, GW, and Dannys ass every time they play us.

its also possible a player is good and overhyped. He talked to the media a lot, he's a good tv personality, so people get more attached to him than to what he actually provides on the field day in and day out.

lindsey trashed him, lewis said he was the hardest player he's ever coached, gibbs said he's talked to lavar more than anyone. at penn state they complained about it too. trotter and him DIDN'T get along well. his ability lately hasn't been great cause he was slow last year compared to his pre-injury speed.

[Riggo44]

Even though I new it was coming. Lavar was my favorite player. So it's a sad day in Redskins land for me.
I wish the best for Lavar. I wish he could go home to Pittsburgh,but the Steelers are cheap when it comes to paying players. So I really don't see that happening. I'm just Praying Arrington stays out of the NFC East. And away from Redskin QB's.
Good luck Lavar. Thanks for being a bright spot and leader threw some bad years. You will be missed.