Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins

What exactly happened between the Redskins and Lavar Arrington?


Yeen80

Recommended Posts

again the FO just screws it all up....Lavar and Sean are the type of dominant attitude confident players our D lacks now....imagine....Lavar was awesome when he was healthy and fit, loved him, hates it when he clearly was not himself and Shockey was smoking him....he burned out too early....real shame

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree. In 2004, Lavar was still the most popular player on the team so I disagree with that statement. It just seemed so suspicious how everything fell apart. Something still isnt right with the way everything was handled

This is the part that I don't get. Exactly what is so suspicious? This all played out pretty publicly and it was pretty easy to connect the dotted lines. Only a few people think LaVar isn't to blame in any of this and God could tell them otherwise, but they still won't believe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the part that I don't get. Exactly what is so suspicious? This all played out pretty publicly and it was pretty easy to connect the dotted lines. Only a few people think LaVar isn't to blame in any of this and God could tell them otherwise, but they still won't believe.

Well, by suspicious I mean there seem to be many different stories and versions. Was it the coaches? money? front office? skill set? Is Lavar really to blame? Maybe he was....but the whole situation involving him and the team from '03-'05 was very weird

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, by suspicious I mean there seem to be many different stories and versions. Was it the coaches? money? front office? skill set?

See, that's the thing. There are only two sides: LaVar and the Redskins.

No one doubted his physical skillset, but he never realized physical skill wasn't enough at this level. When he started getting injured and was out-of-shape, he had nothing to fall back on.

As far as the Coaches, that probably lies part with his lack of physical shape and mental game as well as being in Snyder's ****house after the phantom signing bonus nonsense. Snyder is a piece of **** owner, but he's not stingy and he's not dumb enough to give someone two equal bonus payments on the same day. It makes no sense, especially when the roster bonus would at least partially be converted to a signing bonus before its due date.

His contract was signed around the same time Joe Gibbs returned, at which time he said on television that Joe Gibbs had to "show him something" when he came back. It didn't start pretty, it didn't end pretty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First the Earth cooled, then the dinosaurs died, then Joe Gibbs returned and suddenly Arrington was no longer out-front of everything. He said Joe Gibbs had to "show him something," as if he was the be-all, end-all of the NFL.

Arrington's Agents are morons who actually believed LaVar was to get two roster bonus amounts of $6.5m on the same day. They convinced him of it, ding dong thinks the contract got switched or a Jedi mind trick got put on them and he has had a chip ever since. Nevermind the fact that at least one of his Agents is no longer allowed to practice in (at least) the NFL.

It makes no sense. I mean... why not just one $13m roster bonus. There was about a 0% chance he'd ever see it, anyway, since this FO winds up restructuring before a roster bonus half that size (heh... ) gets doled out so the player gets more up-front money.

Then, I assume because of all the action that occurred with the NFLPA because of it, Arrington winds up in Snyder's ****house. Then he winds up in Dale Lindsay's ****house. Then he buys out his contract, goes to New York, gets hurt, goes home, wraps his bike around a guardrail and sayonara career.

The whole injury thing here was him saying he was ready and the team held him back, then they put him in and he ****ed that they rushed him. If you look up "Sybil" in the dictionary, you'll see his ugly mug.

Exactly. I remember someone on here having a photo of lavar pre and post injury and the never looked the same or played the same. He got lazy and thought the redskins owed him something. I'm still pissed I had to use a #57 in madden. j/k

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lavar reminds me a lot of Brian Bosworth. Minus the big mouth of course. Their NFL careers were similar. Many people consider Boz to have been a miserable bust b/c of his draft status and hype etc. However, Boz lasted something like 7 years in the league as a serviceable and reliable linebacker who played at a B level, but was never great. Lavar is fortunate to not have to deal w/ the 'bust' label the Boz could never outlive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The contract situation is where most of the beef between the Skins and Lavar started. I've always said and maintain that both sides could've given in on the beef. As far as Greag Williams and Dale Lindsay saying Lavar couldn't get Williams system is B.S.! Lavar was a pro bowler in three different systems. Ray Rhodes, Marvin Lewis and Kurt Shottenheimer. What made Williams defense any more complicated than these accomplished defensive coordinators? Also before Lavar went to the Giants, Marvin Lewis was trying to get Lavar with the Bengals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) Lavar signed a contract without reading it... he felt that both parties had orally agreed to something different.

2) Lavar was never as impactfull after his knee injury in 2004(?)... slower and more tentative.

3) Because Lavar was no longer the absolute best athlete on the field after said injury he could no longer make up for mental mistakes. He came back down to earth and had to play "team ball," but was not used to that type of play.

4) Greg Williams has always been a "scheme" guy more so than any other coach, so it is VITAL that every player does exactly what his assignment is. Players have to force themselves to do what is counter-intuitive at times to play with in his scheme. Lavar was unwilling or unable to do this.

there you have it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To get the full picture on Lavar Arrington, you have to go back to the draft where he and Samuels were selected. Arrington was viewed as the best pick in the draft at the time and it wasn't entirely clear whether he'd be picked number one or two. His teammate Courtney Brown was the other guy that people were looking at. Skins fans wanted Arrington bad because he did that "Lavar Leap" play which got everyone's attention.

Then it happened.

Arrington hired the infamous Poston brothers as his agents. The Poston brothers were just beginning to gain a reputation of asking for outrageous amounts of money for players in an attempt to break the slotting system for rookie salaries (read Michael Crabtree.)

Arrington, sure enough, decides to hold out. Not to be outdone by any agent, Daniel Snyder tells the agents that for every day of camp Lavar misses he loses 100K on the offer. The holdout was over a day or two after the ultimatum. Luckily for Lavar, he didn't hold out because after the Michael Westbrook debacle, Skins fans would never have warmed up to him at all.

Lavar then got a new coach in Marty Schottenheimer and he loved the new defense which let him freelance all he wanted. He did very well actually in that defense. Then came Marvin Lewis who doesn't kiss any player's rear ends (See Ochocinco.) He didn't like Arrington freelancing and bottled him up.

Arrington then starts to forge a tight friendship with Daniel Snyder (See Tom Cruise.) He feels special and even claims that he is involved in player personnel decisions for the team (See Clinton Portis.)

Arrington renegotiates his contract to make room for different players (he approves of) and still gets the same amount of money prorated towards the end of his contract. His agents in a monumental blunder lead Lavar to believe that he is receiving an additional six million dollar bonus on top of the renegotiated contract which was "revenue neutral." When the "revenue neutral" contract arrived and signed in triplicate, the Poston brothers raised holy hell. Lavar agrees with them and says that the contract he finally got had "666" on it somewhere and he would never have signed a contract that had that bad luck number in it. (Presumably fixing it to 667.)

Needless to say, he didn't get his additional six million dollar roster bonus and was relatively peeved to say the least. He made a big deal and Joe Gibbs moved in to quiet him down (suspected but not verified.) Arrington took that as a slight and then found that his cozy relationship with Snyder had disappeared overnight. After this, his knee got hurt and strangely he ended up on the bench when he was dearly needed on defense. No explanation has ever been offered for this.

It seems that Arrington stopped towing the company line and got blacklisted by Coach Gibbs, Williams, Snyder and Cerrato. He had his agents negotiate his release then taking a hit on his salary. He later signed with the Giants after Antonio Pierce convinced them that the Skins blew the relationship and that Arrington could still play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lavar reminds me a lot of Brian Bosworth. Minus the big mouth of course. Their NFL careers were similar. Many people consider Boz to have been a miserable bust b/c of his draft status and hype etc. However, Boz lasted something like 7 years in the league as a serviceable and reliable linebacker who played at a B level, but was never great. Lavar is fortunate to not have to deal w/ the 'bust' label the Boz could never outlive.
Lavar was awesome at Penn St.

Lavar was good in Washington.

A B level linebacker at best, but never an A level player like his contract indicated.

This revisionist history about Arrington's talent is absurd. Before his injuries, Arrington was a premier defensive player. His combination of power, speed, and explosiveness was stunning. He was a game changer.

Argue all you want about his lack of discipline under Dale Lindsay and his outspoken ways. But you diminish any argument you make by trying to claim that he was a mediocre NFL talent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then it happened.

Arrington hired the infamous Poston brothers as his agents. The Poston brothers were just beginning to gain a reputation of asking for outrageous amounts of money for players in an attempt to break the slotting system for rookie salaries (read Michael Crabtree.)

Arrington, sure enough, decides to hold out.

Bang created a cartoon documentary that clearly shows the Postons' negotiating style, as they represented Kellen Winslow in a similar fashion to Lavar. Enjoy:

http://www.bangcartoon.com/2004/goingposton.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always thought LaVar was a passionate player and a true Redskin. Then all the riff with the contract came out & the Dale Lindsey drama.....LaVar soured on everything "REDSKINS" and then it became a soap opera in '04/'05.

Now if the dude wants to be anti-Redskins so be it thats his choice. I just dont get why he tries to act like he is a legitimate "FAN" of the team though....he seems like more of a hater than anything else. The first week or so of his show with Dukes literally made my ears BLEED due to his chronic complaining/bashing of everything Redskins/Dan Snyder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always thought LaVar was a passionate player and a true Redskin. Then all the riff with the contract came out & the Dale Lindsey drama.....LaVar soured on everything "REDSKINS" and then it became a soap opera in '04/'05.

Now if the dude wants to be anti-Redskins so be it thats his choice. I just dont get why he tries to act like he is a legitimate "FAN" of the team though....he seems like more of a hater than anything else. The first week or so of his show with Dukes literally made my ears BLEED due to his chronic complaining/bashing of everything Redskins/Dan Snyder.

But we as true fans also spend inordinate amounts of time bashing the organization and owner. Why can't Lavar? He is nothing more than one of us at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...