The Redskin Report

Most Redskin fans awoke to a surprise this morning, Lavar Arrington has been released. While the release itself doesn’t come as a surprise, the terms and timing were unexpected. Arrington agreed to pay the Redskins a reported 4 million dollars to be released immediately. The move saves the Redskins just over 3 million dollars on this year’s salary cap and wipes huge cap hits in future years off the books. Arrington’s contract, which was agreed upon just before Gibbs arrived, was a salary cap albatross from the moment it was signed. Arrington’s injury woes have limited his abilities to the point where this move was inevitable.

With the rocky relationship between Arrington and the Redskins in recent years, its easy to forget that Arrington was once the face of this franchise. When he was drafted (2nd overall, 2000), Arrington had seemingly limitless potential. With his combination of speed and power, he was hailed as the next Lawrence Taylor. For a franchise that had limped through most of the 1990s, Arrington represented hope for a turnaround. While Arrington struggled to adapt to the NFL at times in his rookie season, he showed glimpses of greatness. The hit that ended Troy Aikman’s career is remembered by Redskins fans to this day.

Unfortunatley that 2000 Redskin team was a huge disappointment and the firing of Norv Turner was the 1st of many coaching changes during Arrington’s tenure with the Redskins. While Arrington has complained about the constant turnover of Redskins’ coaches, this 1st move was a boon for Arrington. Under Marty Schottenheimer, Arrington thrived and had his best season. While the numbers may show otherwise, 2001 was Arrington’s peak. He was all over the field, making big play after big play; his interception return touchdown against Carolina turned the season around and is the signature play of Arrington’s time with the Redskins. Things were looking up for the Arrington and the Redskins, the team appeared to be progressing into a playoff contender and Arrington seemed poised to become the league’s best linebacker. But when Daniel Snyder’s dream coach, Steve Spurrier, came available, Schottenheimer was let go and Arrington’s troubles began.

Spurrier and Snyder hired the highly regarded Marvin Lewis to lead the defense. At first glance this appeared to be a match made in heaven. Lewis had built a dominating defense in Baltimore which produced many Pro Bowl linebackers. However it didn’t work out as planned. Lewis couldn’t figure out how to use Arrington, making the curious decision to play Arrington at defensive end on passing downs. Although Arrington produced a career high 11 sacks, his impact on the field was greatly reduced. After Lewis left the Redskins, he called Arrington the most undisciplined player he ever coached, insinuating that he couldn’t trust Arrington in open space on passing downs. Arrington’s tendenacy to free lance would hamper the rest of his Redskins career.

After another year of chaos under Spurrier, this time without Lewis leading the defense, the Redskin franchise once again changed direction, hiring Joe Gibbs to coach the team. Gibbs’ first move as coach was to hire Gregg Williams to take over on the defensive side of the ball. Williams spoke glowingly of Arrington and mentioned that he was working on plans to use him to his full potential. Injuries derailed any plans they he may have devised. For the first time in Arrington’s career he missed significant time, playing in only 4 games due to a knee injury. Even when he did suit up, Arrington was never at full strength and he didn’t make much of an impact.

The 2005 season was the low point of Arrington’s career. The team didn’t feel he was at 100% at the beginning of the season and he was benched in favor of journeyman Warrick Holdman for most games. Even when he managed to regain his starting job, he was pulled out on 3rd downs in favor of unheralded Chris Clemons. Arrington also brought many off the field distractions to the team. From his contract dispute to his terribly timed declaration that his Redskin career was over, it was obvious he was not one of Gibbs’ “core Redskins.” His Redskin career would end with a whimper, managing two tackles in the playoff loss versus Seattle.

Personally, I’m not the biggest Arrington fan. I always felt he was over rated and over paid. Earlier this off-season I advocated getting rid of him and I fully support the move to release him. But today, I’d like to say thank you. Thanks for putting your body on the line and giving your all to this team. Arrington isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he does come across as a liar for saying he’d do anything to stay a Redskin, but you can’t deny that he always gave his best effort on the field. Even though things didn’t work out as any of us would have wanted, for a brief period of time even this staunch anti-Lavar fan must admit it was one hell of a ride.