Unhappy in Gibbs's Offense, Team's Top Receiver Expresses Desire to Leave
By Nunyo Demasio
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 21, 2005; Page D01
Washington Redskins wide receiver Laveranues Coles has had at least two extensive conversations with Coach Joe Gibbs since the season ended which are expected to lead to his release from the team, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Sources said last night that Gibbs, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and Roosevelt Barnes, the agent for Coles, have reached an oral agreement that will likely lead to his release, making the 27-year-old wideout an unrestricted free agent.
Coles met privately with Gibbs at Redskins Park to express his unhappiness with the offense and a desire to leave the club.
Gibbs has acknowledged meeting twice with Coles, including earlier this month, but he turned reticent and cryptic when asked about the possibility of Coles's departure.
"We had a couple of good talks. That's the only statement I want to make," Gibbs said last week. "Me and Laveranues talked, and we have a good understanding."
Coles caught a career-best 90 passes last season, the third-most in franchise history behind Art Monk. Yet the five-year veteran became frustrated by the lack of a deep passing game. The Redskins finished with the 30th-ranked offense in the league, and Gibbs's ball-control philosophy coupled with a 6-10 record made Coles miserable, said one person with knowledge of the situation.
Gibbs, who also serves as team president, intends to accommodate Coles's request instead of keeping a player who prefers to be elsewhere, said two other sources who requested anonymity.
Should Coles be released, one source said, he would return part of his $13 million signing bonus to minimize salary cap ramifications. Tomorrow is the first day that NFL teams are allowed to waive players.
Sources said that late this past season Coles requested a trade after meeting with Snyder and Vice President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato, since they were the two most responsible for acquiring him in 2003. But after discussions with Gibbs, a collective decision was apparently made to waive Coles.
Coles, who has changed his cell phone number, could not be reached for comment. Barnes didn't return several calls last week to his Roanoke, Ind., office. Snyder, through spokesperson Karl Swanson, referred questions to Gibbs. Reached last night, Cerrato declined to comment.
The Redskins signed Coles to a seven-year, $35 million deal as a restricted free agent from the New York Jets. At the time, the $13 million signing bonus was the richest in Redskins history, forcing the Jets to settle for Washington's first-round pick (No. 13 overall) instead of matching it. The Redskins had envisioned the 5-foot-11, 193-pound Coles using his combination of speed and quickness to stretch the field, allowing Rod Gardner to exploit single coverage. In Steve Spurrier's pass-happy offense, Coles responded with 82 catches for 1,204 and six touchdowns. He also made the Pro Bowl.
Gibbs's offense was geared toward tailback Clinton Portis, but the Redskins foresaw Coles posting big numbers because of the need to occasionally go downfield. According to Joe Bugel -- Washington's assistant head coach of offense -- Coles had the third-most passes in the NFL thrown in his direction.
"The offense was friendly to Laveranues Coles," Bugel said last week. "We fed him."
However, most of the throws were intermediate passes and screens designed for Coles to gain yards after the catch. Coles averaged a career-low 10.6 yards per catch. And his sole touchdown came on a halfback option pass from Clinton Portis....
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i hate to see coles go. he is a warrior and is all heart. it's a class move to want out of a situation that you cannot pour your heart into, and be willing to give back money to do it.
that all being said, his toe was always going to be a big question mark. as others have said, in his present condition, he is not the wideout our Skins paid for.
better now than later. Good luck LC. Thanks.
I live right around Washington and I have to say LC just isn't meshing with Gibbs offense, for better or for worse. He fit well with Spurrier, but it didn't do us any good- we were 5-11. I just hope we trade him for something so that we don't get anything back.
Well, the Cowboys need a young WR, someone who can also stretch the field-L. Coles fits that mold for sure. I don't think Q. Morgan is the answer, he hasn't shown anything yet in the NFL. With the cap space the Cowboys have you could go after L. Coles, he would be a great addition to the WR group in Dallas, plus he has a history with Parcells from back in his Jets days.
respect the 'fro
i think the team has backed off the release stuff as you guys mentioned and are looking for a trade partner, but i don't know what the cap hit would be, i mean, this guy just got a 10+ million signing bonus 2 years ago...that would be tough on the cap....
i know if he was to be released it was reported that he would agree to give back some of the bonus money and give the skins some relief...
the only wideout i like out there is mason from tennessee....samari rolle from tennessee sounds good too if smooty wants to hold out for his big payday of a reported $14 million dollar signing bonus, but i think rolle is recovering from a knee injury, so that's something to be very weary of....
obviously, the skins aren't the only FA suitors, but i know dannyboy on his redskins one will be ready to wine and dine these guys with his checkbook ready on march 1st...
at the end of the day, the skins need to beef up the o-line and pray that Ramsey is the one. they go as far as he can take them.
Updated: Feb. 25, 2005, 12:38 PM ET
Hitch: Washington needs cap space
By Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com
ESPN LINK
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Washington Redskins and New York Jets are in serious trade negotiations and, if a deal is consummated, it would have the teams' top wide receivers changing uniforms, ESPN.com has learned.
Under terms of the trade proposal, the Redskins would send unhappy wide receiver Laveranues Coles to the Jets, the franchise with which he actually began his career. In return, Washington would get four-year veteran wideout Santana Moss.
League and team sources, here for the annual predraft scouting combine, confirmed the discussions. While the parameters of the trade appear to be in place, and each club seems satisfied with the terms, there remain several hurdles. Foremost among them, as reported Thursday by ESPN.com, is that the Redskins must first create salary cap room to absorb the hit they will take in a Coles trade.
But one team official said on Friday morning that, if he were a betting man, he would wager that the trade eventually is completed.
Coles
MossJets coach Herm Edwards, asked on Friday if he would be interested in being reunited with Coles, who spent the first three years of his career in New York, declined comment, citing NFL anti-tampering rules.
"Man, I'm not going there, OK?" Edwards said, laughing. "(Coles) is under contract to another team. I don't want the commissioner coming after me."
The Jets clearly feel, though, that Coles is the better receiver of the two. The Jets did not want to let Coles escape in 2002, but the terms of the restricted free agent offer sheet to which the Redskins signed him, a seven-year deal worth $35 million and including a $13 million signing bonus, were too prohibitive to match.
Washington, which has decided it will move Coles, who has complained about the lack of verticality in the Redskins' defense, covets Moss' explosiveness.
Moss, 25, was the Jets' first-round choice in the 2001 draft and the former Miami (Fla.) star has been a productive playmaker when healthy. There have been times, however, when Moss has missed time with hamstring and knee injuries. In four seasons, he had 29 starts in 51 appearances, with 151 receptions for 2,416 yards and 19 touchdowns. His best season came in 2003, when he posted 74 catches, 1,105 yards and nine scores.
He is entering the final year of his original rookie contract and is scheduled to earn a base salary of $448,000 in 2005. Washington will seek a contract extension with Moss before completing any deal for him, but that should not be a problem. Drew Rosenhaus, the agent for Moss, has worked with Redskins owner Dan Snyder on several contracts in the past and the two men have a strong relationship.
Before the Redskins can complete any Coles trade, though, they must first carve out a considerable amount of cap room.
The salary cap math involved in the Coles' mess: If Washington trades the wide receiver, whom they signed as a restricted free agent in 2003, forfeiting a first-round draft choice to the Jets in that transaction, they face a cap impact in excess of $9 million.
Continued...
Hitch: Washington needs cap space (Cont.)
Efforts to have Coles bypass a $5 million deferred signing bonus due him on April 1, a move that would have dramatically decreased the cap hit, seem to have fallen apart. Coles originally had agreed to forfeit the $5 million, but only as part of an agreement that he would be released, and able to choose his next team.
The Redskins don't have the cap space sufficient to afford the $9 million charge that would accompany a Coles trade. But offensive tackle Chris Samuels, whose cap charge for 2005 is $9.5 million and who is due $6.5 million in base salary and bonuses, can provide desperately needed room if he agrees to a new deal.
Samuels, 27, is agreeable to an extension but the numbers must be right before the five-year veteran, a first-round pick in the 2000 draft, signs off on a reworked contract. As of Thursday afternoon, despite accelerated negotiations between the Redskins and Samuels' agent, an accord was not imminent.
Agent Jimmy Sexton in January sent the Redskins a contract proposal that was rejected by Washington officials. A month later, the Redskins would love to strike a deal based on those January figures. Problem is, with the big-money contracts already signed during this offseason by Walter Jones of Seattle and Indianapolis' Ryan Diem, the financial landscape for offensive tackles has been altered.
Jones received a signing bonus of $16 million on a seven-year contract with total value of $52.5 million. Although he is one of the better left tackles in the league, Samuels does not rate in Jones' elite class. But Samuels still will merit a contract with a signing bonus close to what Jones received, with a per-year average of at least $6 million.
Last edited by bigzak25; 02-25-2005 at 05:44 PM.
ing stupid ass Terry Bradway and Herman Edwards!!!! goddamn it, I don't want to see this son of a Coles come back to NY and definitely not at the cost of Santana Mosshead
I hope this deal won't go through, I would rather the Jets go out and get Plaxico Burress to add to Moss, McCareins, and Cotchery but I think Dallas will end up with Burress.
makes too much sense for NY in idiot Bradway
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