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PackersNews.com :Arrington visit isn’t a ploy linked to Favre


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http://www.packersnews.com/archives/news/pack_25561043.shtml#top

Arrington visit isn’t a ploy linked to Favre

By Rob Demovsky

PackersNews.com

The Green Bay Packers insist their interest in free-agent linebacker LaVar Arrington is genuine and isn’t a ploy simply to convince quarterback Brett Favre to play another season.

Arrington visited Lambeau Field and met with General Manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy on Monday, two days after Favre suggested the Packers should be more active in free agency. Arrington was the second high-profile defensive player to visit Green Bay in the last week. His visit followed one by defensive back Charles Woodson.

“Every player we try to sign is because we’re trying to build the best football team possible,” McCarthy said on Tuesday. “We’re always trying to add good players. I don’t know why you’d want to twist it that way or why anybody would. Our eye is completely on the target in that area, and that’s not going to change.”

Both Arrington and Woodson remain on the Packers’ wish list, though there’s no indication a deal with either is imminent.

“They’ve been good players and starters and Pro Bowl players,” Thompson said. “So yeah, you would hope if you put them in with our group that our group would be better because of those additions. We’re trying to better our team. That’s all we’re trying to do. If signing them makes us a better team, we’ll try to do that.”

Arrington reportedly was encouraged by his visit to the Packers and wanted to speak with Favre, but neither McCarthy nor Thompson said Arrington expressed that to them. It’s unknown whether Arrington made an attempt to reach Favre on Tuesday. Arrington’s agent, Carl Poston, could not be reached.

“He didn’t mention that to me,” Thompson said. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t mention it (to others).”

When asked if a conversation between the two could help sway Arrington or Favre — or both — McCarthy said: “Gosh, I don’t know. Players all talk to each other, but I couldn’t speculate.”

Neither McCarthy nor Thompson said they have talked to Favre since he spoke to reporters Saturday at his charity golf outing in Tunica, Miss. McCarthy said he watched Favre’s news conference on television, but Thompson said he didn’t see it live.

“It really wasn’t much different from a lot of our conversations,” McCarthy said. “I think it’s a perfect example that anytime you’re dealing with someone you put 100 percent stock into what you and that individual talk about.”

Salary-cap room isn’t a problem for the Packers, who are nearly $20 million under the cap, but Arrington is believed to be seeking a significant contract. Arrington, who will turn 28 on June 20, paid back more than $4 million of his signing bonus in order for the Washington Redskins to release him and make him a free agent. Reports have suggested he’s seeking a contract in the $7-million-a-year range, and nothing in Thompson’s short history as GM would suggest he’s willing to spend that kind of money on a free agent.

In the last two years, Arrington, a former first-round draft pick, has played in only 17 of a possible 32 regular-season games. He had surgery on his right knee and played in only four games in 2004 and then was in and out of the lineup last season because of philosophical differences with coach Joe Gibbs and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

Thompson said he hadn’t seen the medical report on Arrington but didn’t anticipate any problems with his knee.

Though the Packers said the visit went well, it’s always possible Arrington’s agent is using the Packers to drum up interest from other teams.

“We had a good visit,” said McCarthy, who said he spent nearly 2 hours with Arrington. “Two guys from Pittsburgh, what could go wrong?”

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