latest on Smoot & Pierce

First of all, please remember that when Lavar Arrinigton signed his deal with Danny Boy - the one that is in dispute and arbitratin as we speak - one of the things he wanted and got from Danny Boy was that Lavar would have some input into what defensive players would stay and which ones might be brought here. So if Lavar is negative about Smoot, that is not good news.

Secondly, why is Smoot saying "$14M and not a penny less" any more wrong than the Redskins saying "$10M and not a penny more"? This is negotiation and the free agent market will decide which side is correct. If Amoot goes out and gets $14M from another team, then HE was correct about his value and Danny Boy was wrong. On the other hand, if all he can get is an offer of $8M from other teams, then Danny Boy was right and Smoot was wrong and maybe Smoot will sign here if the Skins have not used up that cap money elsehwere. All of this is posturing now.

I will say one thing about the Redskins contract negotiations. They do spend lavish amounts of money on signing bonuses and contracts for players on other teams (Sanders, Trotter, Brunell, Coles, Morton) but they seem to get caught with less than deep pociets when it comes to some of their own players (Bailey, possibly Smoot, possbily Pierce, B. Mitchell, S. Barber).

somebody will give smoot 14 in free agency

14 million is ricockulous for smoot. He's my favorite skin but we can't go over paying for guys. I had an earlier post discussing why guys end up with lavish SB demands which boils down to greedy agents. The agents plan to create the acrimony apparently is working so now he can be sure Smoot won't take a lesser offer to stay the with Skins out of loyalty. No way Smoot can think he is worth 14 mil in signing bonuses with his agent feeding him.

I feel that the only real difference between the two is that the Redskins are basically asking him to not be completely ridiculous. I mean aside from the fact that professional sports players are overpaid in general, I feel that it is completely outlandish for someone to be pissed off because they're not "feeling love" from the management.

The "love" they want to feel should come from playing the game, their fans, NOT from how much they get paid. That should merely be an oversight. I don't want to hear about loyalty from Smoot when it would be just as easy for him to be like "OK, 10 million it is." and be done with it, rather than bitching because he can't have that extra 4 million. I mean I know I'll never have even ONE million dollars in my life at once and I just don't feel that it is right for him to ask for FOUR more, just because he wants to feel the love.

Sometimes it seems that the money is more about ego rather than actual necessity.

somebody will give smoot 14 in free agency

Would hate for that somebody to be Dallas, who are looking to revamp their secondary.

Smoot picked the wrong time to be haggling over money, especially considering how Williams has shown that he can pretty much plug in any guy and his system will have success. I'd love to see Smoot come back, but 14 mil is waaaay too much for him. 12 sounds a bit generous and I don't see the Skins budging too much, I mean what will they have left to give Ade Jimoh?

The only way Smoot could have garnered a 14 mil signing bonus from the Skins would have been if A) he played for another team and B) we struggled in coverage this year and C) he was one of the top free agent corners. Snyder doesn't pay that much for home grown talent, other than Lavar, and Snyder has shown that he'd much rather spend big bucks on free agents and rookies.

It is early in negotiations, and I don't begrudge Smoot at all for trying to max out his value. But I don't see another team giving him that much money up front, he's asking for more than we gave Springs and I'd have a hard time saying that he's better than Springs right now. Hopefully he re-signs, he's a warrior and a Skin.

In the end, speaking on emotion only. I just wish things would get resolved. I wish either party budge just enough for him to come back. The intangibles he brings to the team are almost as valuable as his talent level.

I would really hate to see Smoot go. I must admit at first I thought he was all talk...but he really seemed to improve, especially when Williams came into town. I like his style and I hope we can get him signed...however I feel after the year Pierce has had...it's very important to keep him...

Looks at these bonuses:

Griffin - 10.8 million
Washington - 9.5 million
Springs - 13.3 million

Are you telling me that Smoot is a better player than these three guys? Forget about it.

If he wants 14 in guaranteed money, he should make a pro-bowl or something.

Let Smoot talk his smack somewhere else.

Regarding Bailey, they were willing to give him what he wanted - he didn't want to play for us and made that pretty clear up front.