LaVar Arrington’s complaint regarding the Redskins’ decision to cut Chris Cooley on the eve of the start of the regular season leads naturally to a broader debate regarding the relationship between NFL teams and their players.
The best organizations seem to value relationships with the players, regarding them as human beings and not commodities. The not-so-best organizations often have a more calculated and detached approach to the men who fill out the roster, especially once it’s determined that a player who has been a valued member of the team no longer fits.
That distinction came into focus for me personally while watching the clip from Tuesday’s Hard Knocks regarding the trade of cornerback Vontae Davis. In an intensely personal, private, and potentially embarrassing moment featuring the raw, organic reaction to the news of a trade, does recording that moment and broadcasting it to the nation fit with the notion that players are regarded by the organization as people?
Maybe in the end that’s why franchises like the Patriots and Packers and Steelers and Giants would never allow such an intimate look at the inner workings of the team. Maybe it’s not just because those organizations are secretive or averse to the distractions of cameras and microphones. Maybe those organizations -- which have won seven of the last nine Super Bowls -- have enough respect for the men who wear their uniforms to not expose inherently sensitive interactions and observations to the rest of the world.