Return Of Lavar

[MTK]

I think the people that are "down" on LaVar are that way because of his huge contract. I can understand that. Also, the knocks on him are that he plays out of control and out of position at times. I think that comes with the territory with a player like him.

I also think with Sean Taylor we're going to say similar things about him, but again that comes with the territory. For every play that he over runs, he'll have a bone crunching hit or force a turnover. Taylor and Arrington are both very physically gifted players who play with a ton of aggression and instinct. They're going to make their share of mistakes, but both will also make their share of hard hits and momentum changing plays.

It's interesting how it seems so many people are down on LaVar, but hold Smoot up to a different level. Perhaps if Smoot received a monster contract we might look at him differently when he gets beat for a TD or gets schooled all game long by a WR.

I think most would agree that straight up, LaVar is the better football player when compared to Smoot. So what makes them different? A big contract. Once Smoot has his it will be interesting to see if opinions change.

[Redskins_P]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I think the people that are "down" on LaVar are that way because of his huge contract. I can understand that. Also, the knocks on him are that he plays out of control and out of position at times. I think that comes with the territory with a player like him.

I also think with Sean Taylor we're going to say similar things about him, but again that comes with the territory. For every play that he over runs, he'll have a bone crunching hit or force a turnover. Taylor and Arrington are both very physically gifted players who play with a ton of aggression and instinct. They're going to make their share of mistakes, but both will also make their share of hard hits and momentum changing plays.

It's interesting how it seems so many people are down on LaVar, but hold Smoot up to a different level. Perhaps if Smoot received a monster contract we might look at him differently when he gets beat for a TD or gets schooled all game long by a WR.

I think most would agree that straight up, LaVar is the better football player when compared to Smoot. So what makes them different? A big contract. Once Smoot has is it will be interesting to see if opinions change.

Great post Matty. I couldn't agree more....

[Daseal]

2) Trading Lavar is a financial impossibility. Trading him would hit our cap with $20 million in 2005. Just so you know, the team has only about $4-$5 million in room right now.

Please read through the post and find anywhere someone says trade him. Everyone saying that he is a bit over-rated has also said it's impossible to trade him, that is not what we were debating. We may have put hypothetical situations out, but those were laid out ahead of time!

SChneed: Though I feel Peirce plays the roll of field quarterback, I don't see him as a leader. I don't think he's the guy who finally got off the bench and all of a sudden in the locker room presence. I feel Smoot is the guy that gets people fired up, I feel he leads by example, and he's been a veteran starter for the team for time to come. Pierce is great in that MLB roll, I loved seeing him move Dlinemen around, telling people what to do. At one point Greg Williams said that he would get half way through a signal and Pierce would turn around and finish calling it because he knew the rest. That's a great MLB, no doubt. However, I don't feel that property makes a real leader that everyone rallies around. Those are just my thoughts.

FRPLG: LaVar overruns not because of his speed, by his lack of confidence. You can get him going with counter plays, reverses etc. If he studied more film and was less of a freelancer he'd make many more plays, in my opinion.

Matty, good post. It's partially contract and partially attitude for me. The contract, was bigger than he deserved in my eyes, but I also know he won't receive a majority of it because we'll have him restructure in 4-5 years. The 6 million he signed the contract without but wants now is silly to me, and I think he should give it up. I know 6 million is a lot, and if he had a leg to stand on I wouldn't complain. However, if you sign a contract without it, sorry. Looks like he also overran his contract negotiations. I've said many times LaVar will make a big play because he's gifted, but he will also make more mistakes than Marshall, which on a fast team like our defense isn't always THAT bad. He's great in coverage because he matches up with TEs well. We have the ability to drop ST, Washington, and Arrington into coverage on top tier TEs. If it's a smaller guy we can even put Springs. That gives us a lot of leeway as far as how to scheme for big name TEs like TG, Shockey, McMichael, Gates, etc. Like Offiss, our defense was already great last year, I think we allowed the lowest yards per play, either that or 2nd, which in my opinion is a better gauge than total yards. So the drop off between him and Marshall will be slim. Will I be glad to have him back, sure will. He's exciting to watch, no doubt. I don't hate Lavar, just some of his actions. I just think he gets too much press and too much credit, but seems to get down when we're losing and doesn't do his job as the face of our defense to get the guys riled up. Complaining about getting a say in personel decisions also infuriated me. He's a linebacker - not exactly FO material. Shutup and play is what Snyder shoulda told him.

Smoot has the ability to be a leader which is why a lot of people love him. I remember him getting ragged when he got used one game, and that will happen to every player. I was in on it! If Smoot received Bailey money, I'd agree. I don't think his talent equates to that, but I understand Smoot jockeying for position. He needs to make money. I feel the club should find a way to accomidate him as long as it doesn't deystroy the cap. Smoot is more important to this scheme because of the 1 on 1 style we run. We need good corners. If our corners don't keep coverage. We're screwed!

[offiss]

Matty you pretty much summed up my feeling's on Lavar we are paying him way to much money for what he bring's to the field, if he was paid like an average LB or there about's I would be fine, but to blow our cap out of the water for any LB other than lawerence Taylor is dumb on management's part, but if you except that kind of contract you better be able to justify it with your play and he never has. As for Smoot I have said more than once that he's asking for to much money and all his antic's right now are just about trying to leverage the fan support into a bigger deal, I don't feel he will do better on the open market than the deal we offered, even if he recieved an offer close it won't be that much of a difference to make him jump team's, I said it before I don't believe Smoot will be else where next year I just don't see other team's breaking the bank for him I think we have been very generous with our offer and I believe he really want's to be in DC.

As for Lavar I am hoping he can justify that contract with his play but he will need a monster year to justify a monster contract.

[dirtbag2112]

WOW...I've created a monster.

[wolfeskins]

[QUOTE=offiss]Matty you pretty much summed up my feeling's on Lavar we are paying him way to much money for what he bring's to the field, if he was paid like an average LB or there about's I would be fine, but to blow our cap out of the water for any LB other than lawerence Taylor is dumb on management's part, but if you except that kind of contract you better be able to justify it with your play and he never has.




when did lavar sign that contract ? what is the amount of money he will cost the skins against the cap, year by year, until the end of his contract ?

[BigSKINBauer]

Lavar makes plays for hell sure everyone on this defense has gotten better or has been able to show their true talent for example Bowen is a good compareson we don't know if Bowen just all of a sudden became amazing because we only saw that one game but I do remember in the preseason Lavar had a similar game against the Falcons, He forced that fumble on Vick and actually sacked that guy who broke 2 nice breaks in the Pro Bowl. Lavar showed us that he fit well he didn't overpersue Vick at all he did this repetevly in the first quarter of that game and he and springs blitzing along with Bowen showing blitz led us to have a 24-0 lead against possibley the second best team in the NFC. All I'm saying is that it is quite possible that Lavar has gotten better just has most of our team I mean Smoot I always felt was good but I think he has proven it, also Bowen seemed better and I think we could hope the same of LAVAR. Springs once again put himself back with the big dogs in the leage and Griffin is showing his true potential. I just think Williams finds players strengths and then expliots them and if we had Lavar back we would be MUCH MUCH better due to his speed on blitzes, we blitz alot during that first game with Bowen and Arrington but as the season progressed we saw less elaborate blitzes. I just think that we should talk about how overrated a player is just because he hadn't been able to prove himself.

BOTTOM LINE I TRAILED OFF- WITHOUT WILLIAMS OUR DEFENCE PROLLY WOULDN'T BE SO GOOD AND IF WE WERE TO SUCK AND ARRINGTON WAS OUT YOU ALL WOULD BE COUNTING THE DAYS TO SEE ARRINGTON COME BACK. IT FEELS LIKE MANY OF YOU FEEL THAT WE DON'T NEED HIM OR HE IS OVERRATED AND OTHER PLAYERS ARE BETTER BECAUSE WE WERE SO GOOD AND YOU DON'T REMEMBER HIM BEING AS GOOD. I UNDERSTAND COMPLETLY BUT I THINK IT IS FAIR TO SAY SEEING THAT EVERYONE ELSE IMPROVED THAT HE WOULD TO, I DON'T THINK HE SPENDS ALL OF HIS TIME THINKING ABOUT 6 MILLION DOLLARS....... THATS WHAT SMOOT DOES. I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU ALL BELIEVE THAT HE DOESN'T CONCETRATE ON THE COMING GAME AND DOESN'T LOOK AT FILM, IF YOU HAVE REASONING PLEASE TELL ME I AM WILLING TO HEAR IT I AM NOT JUST DESMISSING IT

BIGSKINBAUER OUT
WATCH 24 TONIGHT

[Daseal]

From what I was able to understand from your post you're basing one good PRESEASON performance and judging him by that.

Stop judging anything by pre-season. Otherwise the 2nd year in Spurriers reign we would have been Super Bowl Champs.

[BigSKINBauer]

Originally Posted by offiss

How's are defense been with Lavar on the field? We haven't stopped anyone, with Lavar out this year we were #1 most of the year and finished in the top 3, and what a comparison for Lavar to an undrafted journeymen in Marshall, .

LAVAR BEING OUT DIDN'T MAKE OUR DEFENSE BETTER I THINK YOUR THE ONLY PERSON ON THIS THREAD THAT THINKS THAT AND IF ANYONE ELSE FEELS THIS WAY SAY SO CLEARLY. WILLIAMS IS THE SOLE REASON WHY WE ARE BETTER NOT BECAUSE OUR BEST PLAYER IS SITTING OUT

[wolfeskins]

what he is saying is that every player who played on the skins defense this past year played better than they ever have before , they all improved. it is fair to say lavar would have improved just as well. and he was already the best defensive player on the team.

[Daseal]

BigSKINBauer - your capital letters gets really annoying. It's not necessary. We'll read your post without them. There's no need to make punctuation harsh on the eyes.

We made a lot of big changes to our defense. Springs, Taylor, Washington, Daniels, Griffen, etc. I'm not taking anything away from Greg Williams, he has done an amazing job everywhere he's gone, but I feel we added a lot of talent to our defense too. I think Offiss has said that we'd be better off with LaVar in. However his contract doesn't measure up to his play. He's the highest paid linebacker in sports, and I'd be curious for someone to ask Williams who he'd rather have. Takeo Spikes or Lavar Arrington, maybe I can remember that for Joe's camp interviews! Lavar isn't exactly a "team player" see Marvin Lewis's defense. He'd complain about getting in the 3 point stance, always wants to freelance, etc. He has some big attitude changes to be a top LB in the league as far as I'm concerned.

[SmootSmack]

In fairness to LaVar though, he did say last summer that he was wrong to question Marvin Lewis and understands now why he wanted him to play the way he did. So I think he has matured. Guess we'll find out soon enough

[offiss]

. I UNDERSTAND COMPLETLY BUT I THINK IT IS FAIR TO SAY SEEING THAT EVERYONE ELSE IMPROVED THAT HE WOULD TO, I DON'T THINK HE SPENDS ALL OF HIS TIME THINKING ABOUT 6 MILLION DOLLARS....... THATS WHAT SMOOT DOES.

BSB, that statement is so far off base it's almost not worthy of a reply but I will do so anyway, Lavar allowed his contract disagreement carry on during the season whether he was playing or not, Smoot on the other hand said nothing until the season was over, who put money before the job at hand? Lavar, I find it ironic that Lavar who sat out the whole year with a supposed 5 week injury did nothing but gripe, and Smoot who played through everything short of a broken bone, or a torn ligament, never made his pending free agency an issue until after the season was over. Let's face it Lavar hasen't stopped thinking about his 6 million dollar fantasy.

[BigSKINBauer]

OFFISS straight up are we better with lavar or not, I think you will answer yes but if not just give the reasons and even if you say yes do you think that we will improve significantly or not?

By the way this is a very fun thread

[BigSKINBauer]

Originally Posted by wolfeskins

what he is saying is that every player who played on the skins defense this past year played better than they ever have before , they all improved. it is fair to say lavar would have improved just as well. and he was already the best defensive player on the team.

Thankyou wolf you just summed up in 60 words what I couldn't in a couple hundred!