Giants/Arrington agree: 7yr- $49mil, GB came in hard

[motife]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2417903

Updated: April 22, 2006, 12:40 PM ET
Giants reach agreement with LB ArringtonBy John Clayton
ESPN.com


LaVar Arrington got everything he was hoping for -- a seven-year contract and a chance to stay in the NFC East.

Arrington reached agreement Saturday on a seven-year, $49 million contract with the New York Giants. Further details of the contract weren't available, but the Giants came close to the number he was hoping for. The Giants gave Arrington the chance to compete against the Redskins twice a year.

"He's really elated," said Arrington's agent, Kevin Poston. "He's going to an 11-5 team. He doesn't have to move too far. He gets to play with Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora. He's excited."

Five teams were in the final bidding for Arrington, who paid back $4 million to get out of his Redskins contract. According to Poston, the Packers made a big move in the past couple of days to get something done, but talks with the Giants got serious on Thursday night.

Arrington passed a physical with the Giants on Thursday and talks picked up intensity. Both sides were close to a deal on Friday night.

"Green Bay came in there pretty hard, but he was comfortable with the Giants," Poston said.


John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

[Bretsky]

""According to Poston, the Packers made a big move in the past couple of days to get something done, but talks with the Giants got serious on Thursday night.

Arrington passed a physical with the Giants on Thursday and talks picked up intensity. Both sides were close to a deal on Friday night.

"Green Bay came in there pretty hard, but he was comfortable with the Giants," Poston said. ""

If the Turtle wanted Arrington he shouldn't have been sitting on his ass the past few weeks while the Giants were moving in. Not like we are out of money or anything.

[GrnBay007]

If the Turtle wanted Arrington he shouldn't have been sitting on his ass the past few weeks while the Giants were moving in. Not like we are out of money or anything.

......stayed tuned for more bad news this week when you anxiously sign on to the net hoping to see GB signed Woodson and learn he is headed to TB. Don't worry, TT still has the draft and then he can always go out and pick up a few players on the street. :razz:

[Bretsky]

If the Turtle wanted Arrington he shouldn't have been sitting on his ass the past few weeks while the Giants were moving in. Not like we are out of money or anything.

......stayed tuned for more bad news this week when you anxiously sign on to the net hoping to see GB signed Woodson and learn he is headed to TB. Don't worry, TT still has the draft and then he can always go out and pick up a few players on the street. :razz:


Right now my expectations in regards to free agency is bad news. We have the draft; it's going to be a while. There are a lot of reasons Favre could use to choose to return and I hope he does, but if winning is it then he's as good as gone.

[Patler]

If the Turtle wanted Arrington he shouldn't have been sitting on his ass the past few weeks while the Giants were moving in. Not like we are out of money or anything.

Arrington expressed a preference for NY from the very start. It is just as likely that Arrington was waiting for NY to come around as it is that TT was procrastinating.

It will be interesting to see how much of the contract is guaranteed.

[motife]

I saw an interesting headline from a Ted Thompson ranter :

"TED THOMPSON WANTS TO PLAY 2006 SEASON $20 MILLION UNDER THE CAP"

($30 million if Favre doesn't return).

What's it going to be like with Donald Driver, Rob Gardner, Bubba Franks and Donald Lee as receivers. I might include Mark Boetinger and David Martin.

But Robert Ferguson is a soft playing wussy since the injury with Donavan Darius. Which is quite a contrast from before when he was David Boston-like, with his fearless kickoff returns, and ability to run over the middle. Now, he's a marshmallow. I've had enough of his standing there waiting for a pass, and then instead of going for it, watches the other team intercept it. At least 3 of Favre's 29 interceptions in 2005 were of that ilk.

[Partial]

It's not worth it for 7 mil a year.

Chris thats a lot for a linebacker. I'd rather save it for next year and pay a younger, more sure-thing player like Briggs.

[Kiwon]

""According to Poston, the Packers made a big move in the past couple of days to get something done, but talks with the Giants got serious on Thursday night.

Arrington passed a physical with the Giants on Thursday and talks picked up intensity. Both sides were close to a deal on Friday night.

"Green Bay came in there pretty hard, but he was comfortable with the Giants," Poston said. ""

If the Turtle wanted Arrington he shouldn't have been sitting on his ass the past few weeks while the Giants were moving in. Not like we are out of money or anything.

Exactly. If TT was so interested in Arrington, he could have signed him weeks ago.

FA is always a risk, but the low-ball first and then increase it later approach means that TT missed out on a player that apparently he really wanted. With similar offers, of course, the Giants are more attractive than the Packers. I personally think that Arrington is a significant risk, but TT seemingly saw something he really liked. Oh well, the off-season saga continues.

[Fritz]

You know, if the Pack were one or two players away from the Super Bowl, then spending that kind of cash on an injured, possible head-case linebacker might be worth it, but when you're several players away from the playoffs it makes little sense.

It sounds to me like Arrington just wanted to be in the NFC East anyway - the Packers' offer was "serious" - why should TT have thrown even more money at the guy early on? So the team can go 6-10 or 7 - 9 and then be stuck with an aging, overpaid linebacker in three years?

[Bretsky]

You know, if the Pack were one or two players away from the Super Bowl, then spending that kind of cash on an injured, possible head-case linebacker might be worth it, but when you're several players away from the playoffs it makes little sense.

It sounds to me like Arrington just wanted to be in the NFC East anyway - the Packers' offer was "serious" - why should TT have thrown even more money at the guy early on? So the team can go 6-10 or 7 - 9 and then be stuck with an aging, overpaid linebacker in three years?

I'm not in the TT must sign Arrington; I've noted several times Witherspoon, a guy who TT didn't bother having in, was the perfect fit for our D.

But this lowball a player ya really want first and then get aggressive later is pure crap for a team with more needs and money left than the rest of the NFL.

[Rastak]

from profootballtalk.com


ARRINGTON'S DEAL STINKS

Initially hyped as a seven-year, $49 million package with an $11 million signing bonus, the contract signed by linebacker LaVar Arrington with the New York Giants is, in actuality, a deal that averages $3.7 million per year. If Arrington hits some basic incentives, the deal is worth $5 million annually. To hits the $7 million per year figure, Arrington needs to hit some pretty high performance triggers.

More importantly, the contract pays Arrington a signing bonus of only $5.25 million, less than half the figure that initially was leaked, presumably by his agents. (Maybe they'll now claim that the bonus was changed by the Giants from $11 million to $5.25 million in the final draft of the contract -- and that they failed to notice it because they read contracts roughly as carefully as Fran Foley reads his own bio.)

The practical consequence here is that, if the Giants conclude that they made a mistake, the cap hit will be manageable. Cutting him after June 1, 2007, for example, would result in a $1.05 million cap charge in 2007, and $3.15 million in dead money come 2008.

And the package pales in comparison to the contract signed by linebacker Julian Peterson with the Seahawks. Peterson got $18 million guaranteed as part of a seven-year, $54 million package.

We're also somewhat surprised that the truth on the Arrington deal got out so soon. Surely, Arrington's camp didn't cough up the real numbers. From the Giants' perspective, the typical approach by NFL teams is to let the player pretend he got a great deal -- without saying anything while the ink is still wet (and before the numbers are available via the NFLPA) as to what the player really will get.

[Rastak]

Sounds like the Packers actually outbid the Giants....


From KFFL:

Giants | Arrington to join new teammates soon
Sun, 23 Apr 2006 22:20:55 -0700

Mike Garafolo, of the Star-Ledger, reports New York Giants LB LaVar Arrington will arrive in New York Monday evening, April 24, or early Tuesday, April 25, to join his teammates for offseason workouts, according to agent Carl Poston. Poston said Arrington chose the Giants' offer over a slightly more lucrative proposal. The agent did not specify which team Arrington turned down, though the Green Bay Packers were the only other club in serious negotiations with Arrington. "Playing for the Giants will give LaVar the chance to be a big name again," Poston said. "He's a guy who runs to the microphone, not away from it."

[billy_oliver880]

He just didn't want to play for the packers. :sad:

[Guiness]

I'm not in the TT must sign Arrington; I've noted several times Witherspoon, a guy who TT didn't bother having in, was the perfect fit for our D.

But this lowball a player ya really want first and then get aggressive later is pure crap for a team with more needs and money left than the rest of the NFL.

That's basically it Bretsky - by not putting the money they knew they'd need to use to get him on the table immediately, they let the Giants come to the dance.

I'm also not sure he's the player we wanted, but if the Pack thought he was, then they should've went hard instead of putting a deal on the table that made him say "let me think about it". They did this with Pickens as well, and I think they're lucky someone didn't blow him away with big money before he decided to take the deal here.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Well, they say it was slightly more lucrative. Let's face it: Green Bay is going to have to overpay for a guy they want when competing against the likes of the Giants. There's more endorsement possibilities in NY, the Giants have a better team, and they have a franchise QB. We can use this as an excuse, but then we'll be just like the Bengals and Cardinals of the last 20 years. We were in a position to offer significantly more by frontloading the contract. I guess it's not the fact that we missed out on Arrington so much as the fact that we apparently had a failed plan to wait the first week or two of FA out... hoping to find value later. Thompson has even stated that was the plan. It didn't work. We didn't find good value later, and we missed out on a boatload of FAs earlier.

[MJZiggy]

It wasn't letting the Giants come to the dance, they were dancing all along (a nice little cha-cha from what I hear) and Arrington wanted to play there all along so he could visit with his buddies the Redskins twice a year. He said that's what he wanted from the start. This should come as no surprise to anyone.

[HarveyWallbangers]

It wasn't letting the Giants come to the dance, they were dancing all along (a nice little cha-cha from what I hear) and Arrington wanted to play there all along so he could visit with his buddies the Redskins twice a year. He said that's what he wanted from the start. This should come as no surprise to anyone.

So, what was the backup plan?

[MJZiggy]

Hawk?

[HarveyWallbangers]

1) So, you are sold on Ben Taylor as a starter then?
2) What happens if Hawk is drafted by New Orleans or some other team? Now, they are in a position to draft for need. I'd rather fill the needs before the draft, so you avoid this. Now, we HAVE to get a starting LB from this draft.

[MJZiggy]

Unless TT has something up his sleeve that we don't know about. He can be a sneaky devil sometimes.

[Tarlam!]

TT shoulda dealt the skins KGB and offered to offset the cap hit, much in the way LaVar did anyways. But, by LaVar doing the deal himself, he could go where he wanted.

Something does occur to me about this though, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned it. Arrington was said to be all fired up and ready to call #4 when he left GB.

I wonder if he made that call and did not get the response he was looking to get? If so, and it will come out eventually, Brett Favre did his team a major disservice right there.

[MacCool606]

It seems to me that GB wasn't even in the mix for Arrington early on. Then, I think that they were just used to jack up the price. My guess is that the Packers put their offer on the table, then Poston called the Giants, and that's when they got serious and had him take his physical.

He's one we can watch for the next couple of year's and either be thankful he didn't, or wish he did, come to GB