Lavar Arrington and Fred Smoot Continue Feud Over Brian Orakpo

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WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – The comparison of current and former Redskins linebackers Brian Orakpo and Lavar Arrington has evolved into a debate with many moving parts.

This fluid debate began last week after Orakpo suffered a season-ending pectoral injury (his third), which, for one reason or another, caused fans and even a Redskins reporter to compare the two Redskins’ legacies, especially with Orakpo becoming a free agent at the conclusion of the current season.

Arrington said his peace on the matter, which can probably be best summed up by “I was the face of the franchise. You can’t compare Brian Orakpo to me.”

Then on Monday, Fred Smoot, a former teammate to Orakpo (2009) and Arrington (2001-04), injected himself into the debate, saying, “They are the same player.” Smoot went as far as to say Arrington was a better player when he could roam the field making plays, but was less effective in a more structured system “like Gregg Williams’s defense.”

Earlier in his career, Arrington, according to Smoot, “was our trigger man — that’s what we called him,” which Smoot would describe as the guy designated to “go make plays.”

Well, Arrington heard Smoot’s comments — which you can read in-full here — and responded accordingly on “Chad Dukes vs. The World.”

Here’s a blow-by-blow of Arrington’s response to Smoot’s comments, which at least appear to have reopened some not-so-easily forgotten wounds.

“He kind of alludes like I was a freelancer and did what I wanted to do,” Arrington said.

“It’s just so interesting that even him as a player would actually buy in and subscribe to some of the propaganda that was out there,” he went on. “I don’t know. I find it interesting, because for one, I’ve been retired for so long, it’s not that big of a deal to me to even try to prove. If people want Brian Orakpo to be comparable to me, compare him to me. If you want him to be better than me, then say he’s better than me. But if you ask me my opinion, my opinion’s my opinion. I think that it’s more so about the entertainment value of it, to be honest with you, because his career isn’t comparable to my career. I was an impact player for the Washington Redskins.”

‘Trigger Man’

“The whole ‘trigger man’ deal; I never heard myself being called the trigger man,” said Arrington.

Flawed comparison of Orakpo to Arrington

“Orakpo is a 3-4 linebacker,” said Arrington, “which is really a glorified defensive end that stands up. So if we’re breaking down the minute details, and he wants to say that he was better statistically than me in sacks, it’s because he rushed a whole lot more than me. I was in pass drops. I played linebacker, so it’s just comparing apples and oranges.”

Gregg Williams-Arrington feud

“As it applies to my time with Gregg Williams, I got hurt my first year,” Arrington said. “My contract issue hit, I was benched the next year and left. I don’t think that there’s too much to I couldn’t play in Gregg Williams’ system; when I got in there, we won. If Smoot looked at the film a little bit closer, he’d say that we played our best football on defense when I was on the field. I don’t know. I don’t know.

For a little extra background on Arrington’s messy departure from the Redskins, which involved Lavar paying back a $4 million bonus in order to be released, here’s a passage from The Hartford Courant, penned in 2006 after Arrington had become a member of the Giants organization.

‘I can tell you this: I think LaVar is one of the best athletes that plays in the NFL,” Gibbs said. “I think he’s very explosive. I wish he had been healthy here with us over that two-year span [2004-05]. We think he’s a great athlete with great emotion. I think he’s obviously a premier player. I think that’s what the Giants felt, and that’s the reason the Giants wound up with him.'”

Arrington didn’t seem impressed by the sentiment.

“It doesn’t matter,” Arrington said. “I don’t care. I could care less. [Gibbs is] extremely complimentary, and he has another coach sitting there saying I didn’t know anything. Hello? You do the math. You show yourself enough that people will see you. … But I really could care less. That’s not my coach now.”

Smoot’s perceived animosity toward Arrington

“It sounds as though Smoot may have some animosity towards me,” Arrington said. “You know, there’s been a lot of guys that didn’t live up to what I was when I was a Washington Redskin, whether in be in the community, whether it be the recognition, whatever it may be.

“And maybe there’s some resentment towards me, maybe there’s some feelings towards me, you know, I don’t know. I always expected the best from my teammates, I always wanted the best from my teammates, I always was a leader in the locker room to my teammates, and if somebody took exception to that, I don’t know. So there’s no reason for me to attack Smooty or his credibility. If that’s his opinion, that’s his opinion.”

Marcus Washington more dominant Redskin than Lavar?

“The interesting thing is, when we’re debating something like this, what does it matter?” Arrington asked. “Are you gonna blame the fact that we lost on me? You want to make it a point to say Marcus was better than me? Marcus was the more dominant linebacker during that time. I didn’t play much. So sometimes you just gotta know the facts before jump out there and say some of the things that you’re saying, I mean there’s a lot of inaccuracies in the things that he said, which is, that’s fine.”

One final shot

After listening to another audio clip of Smoot’s comments, this one with specific regard to Gregg Williams and Marcus Washington, Arrington alluded that Smoot may be trying to discredit him to prove something to himself. “I mean, doesn’t it sound like he’s basically trying to minimize everything that I did?” he said.

“I don’t have to debate what I did. I did what I did,” he’d add. “I feel sorry that Smoot really feels that strongly about trying to discredit me, but it is what it is.

“For me, it just seems as though Smoot had maybe a feeling of trying to minimize what I did to justify something, and it might even be bigger than Orakpo. So, I don’t know.”

Well, that was fun, right? Everyone get it out of their system?

Sounds like all involved parties now know where they stand.

“@HigherTimes2: @Fsmoot21SeanT could you beat @LaVarArrington in a backyard wrestling match”. I doubt it..

—
Fred Smoot (@Fsmoot21SeanT) October 27, 2014

(Listen to Lavar Arrington’s response to Fred Smoot in full below.)