LAVAR ARRINGTON CALLS JOE GIBBS “A COWARD”

During his first few years in the league, former Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington looked like one of the NFL’s most promising young defensive players. By the age of 25 he had been chosen to three Pro Bowls and had signed an eight-year contract extension, and he appeared on his way to becoming a Redskins legend. But when Joe Gibbs became the coach, things started to change. Arrington and Gibbs didn’t see eye to eye, and Arrington wasn’t a good fit in the defense of assistant head coach Gregg Williams. By the age of 27 Arrington was out of Washington, and by 28 he was out of the NFL. Arrington is now retired, and he seems to blame Gibbs for the way his career headed south. He also suggests that if Gibbs really cared about his team, he wouldn’t have quit after the 2007 season. “I called Joe Gibbs a coward for leaving,” Arrington said, per the Washington Times. “You came in, you made some money for your NASCAR team. No one else is going to say that. I’m sure more people thought I was a [jerk] for saying that. Joe wouldn’t call me because he knows. There are a lot of people who know the truth about what went down with me and the Redskins.” Arrington is now the owner of a sports-themed restaurant that tries to attract Redskins fans, and as Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post notes, a lot of those Redskins fans probably won’t be too happy to hear that Arrington is calling Gibbs a coward.