WT: The reluctant Giant

[bubba9497]

The reluctant Giant
By David Elfin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/a...5-124935-3790r


Antonio Pierce hasn't forgotten. More than four years after being bypassed in the 2001 NFL Draft, Pierce still keeps a list of the 30 linebackers taken and where they are now. He's proud that more than half of those players are no longer in the league while he has a six-year, $26 million contract as a starter for the New York Giants.

Pierce also hasn't forgotten that he should still be in Washington this week, preparing to face a New York team he gave fits in 2004, instead of being on the other side.

After two years as a special teams player, Pierce emerged as Washington's top tackler and the heart of a defense that zoomed from 25th in 2003 to third in 2004. It was a perfect time to be approaching unrestricted free agency -- except that the middle linebacker didn't want to test the market.

"I let the Redskins know in the earlier negotiations [last fall] that I wanted to be there and get things done," Pierce said. "What they initially offered me was an embarrassment. The money I got here in New York was way more than I thought I would get, but [it] never should have gone that far. I just wanted to be treated well and valued. [Free agents] walk in there and almost rob [the Redskins], so you'd think they would reward a guy who has been there and always did his job. You wouldn't go as low as you could and see if you could reach a middle ground."

The Redskins refused to top the six-year, $22.5 million contract they had given free agent linebacker Marcus Washington the previous March and when they declined to match the Giants' offer, Pierce switched from burgundy to blue.

Though the Redskins had to weed through a pack of candidates to succeed Pierce before settling on 2004 weakside backer Lemar Marshall and Pierce stepped right into the Giants' lineup, he misses his old team more than its defense misses him.

"That defense will work regardless of who you put in there," Pierce said of assistant head coach/defense Gregg Williams' unit. "Those guys are coached and taught so well, and they're so disciplined."

It has been easy for Pierce to get nostalgic lately because, in preparation for facing Dallas and Denver, he spent hours watching friend and ex-teammate Marshall lining up in his old spot in the heart of the Washington defense.

"The defense would probably be even better if I were still there, but Lemar is doing well," Pierce said. "That defense is built for the middle linebacker to make a lot of plays."

Marshall isn't the same vocal leader as his predecessor. His eyes don't burn with the fire that Pierce used to chase down enemy ballcarriers or to put rambunctious rookie Sean Taylor in his place.

But Marshall is doing fine in Pierce's stead, vying with Washington for the team lead in tackles and having recorded one of the Redskins' two interceptions and two of their 10 sacks. And though Pierce has been solid for the Giants with a team-high 49 tackles and an interception, New York's defense is the NFL's second-worst while Washington ranks fourth.

"Antonio's very smart," said Giants defensive coordinator Tim Lewis. "He studies the game quite a bit. He has a very good feel for getting people lined up. You see him walking up and tapping [standout defensive end Michael] Strahan and moving guys around."

But a piece or Pierce's heart remains in Washington. Unlike such ex-Redskins as Champ Bailey and Laveranues Coles, who were glad to put Redskin Park in their rearview mirrors, Pierce has kept his house in Virginia.

"Gregg is the best defensive coordinator I have played for," Pierce said. "We have great respect for one another. I talk to a lot of those guys down there. I hang out with them in the offseason. Those are my boys. I wish that defense the best."

[RichC82]

We havent forgotten Pierce either. Definitely a good playmaker, but like the article says, Gregg Williams runs his D so that the team succeeds, not the individual.

In hindsight, I am glad he left...showed his committment to the team vs. committment money. We see where his loyalties lie. Who knows, maybe he has a family to feed like TO.

[CurseReversed]

yea i liked him , its too bad he has hard feelings, he has to know we couldnt have 3 linebackers on the roster with multimillion dollar deals.

[MrSilverMaC]

Pierce is and always has been a good player, especially for us.


I doubt seriously that he would have left if he didn't feel insluted by what the Skins offered him. Some of you must forget he had a chance to go to Minnesota before last season started but stayed. And that was before he ever knew he'd be a starter.


Our D would be much better if he and Smoot were still here.


And any of you who discredit either player as not as good as is being said, are just as fickle if not more than the players you are accusing of being so.

[NoCalMike]

Insulted over 22.5 million dollars? Please......next please. Marcus Washington deserved to be the highest paid LB on the team last season, and it seems that the coaches let that be known well ahead of time.

Sure, Pierce was a beast last season, but he wasn't a perennial probowler who had produced year in and year out under the current coaching staff.

It seems that players are fully aware of Snyder's old dirty habits of overpaying for players, but they seem to forget that with the current coaching staff, those days are over.

[MrSilverMaC]

Insulted over 22.5 million dollars? Please......next please. Marcus Washington deserved to be the highest paid LB on the team last season, and it seems that the coaches let that be known well ahead of time.

Sure, Pierce was a beast last season, but he wasn't a perennial probowler who had produced year in and year out under the current coaching staff.

It seems that players are fully aware of Snyder's old dirty habits of overpaying for players, but they seem to forget that with the current coaching staff, those days are over.

Are you saying he was offered 22 mil to begin with??


Next please.

[NoCalMike]

Are you saying he was offered 22 mil to begin with??


Next please.

No, but what I am saying is that players are coming to the negotiating table with Snyder, jaded because of how he USED TO do business. He overpayed for players in the past, so now everyone EXPECTS to be overpaid, and are all huffy and puffy if they are not.

[panel]

Fact is Giants wanted him more than we did.

Pierce will be with the Giants for a long time, and he is getting used to us being a division rival. He is doing his best in hyping himself up to be mad at us.

[MrSilverMaC]

No, but what I am saying is that players are coming to the negotiating table with Snyder, jaded because of how he USED TO do business. He overpayed for players in the past, so now everyone EXPECTS to be overpaid, and are all huffy and puffy if they are not.

Huffy and puffy, huh?

Am I mistaken, or did Eddie George take less money to go to the cowgirls last year because he felt slighted by an organization he felt he busted his ass for disrespected him???

If you read AP's quote, he never said he wanted to be paid like Washington, only that he be offered a respectable amount, reflecting his service for our team to begin with, instead of trying to haggle with a team he had already stated he wanted to play for. He also goes on to say he was suprised at how much he got, and that he never wanted to test the market.

It's one thing to be prudent when it comes to paying your players, and it's a totally diffferent thing to be insulting in low balling a player who has played very well for you every chance he was given.

Pierce should still be a Skin, but he's not, and neither is Smoot. They chose to go for more money after they were shown that they were not as valued as they felt they should be. No one here should have anything negative to say about the situation or the players. Neither guy was being a T.O. Simply trying to be rewarded according to thier value.

[MrSilverMaC]

Fact is Giants wanted him more than we did.

Pierce will be with the Giants for a long time, and he is getting used to us being a division rival. He is doing his best in hyping himself up to be mad at us.

True.



It's hard to not want him to do well. I am not used to cheering against him, since he was a Wildcat and a Skin.

[zallera]

Our D would be much better if he and Smoot were still here.


And any of you who discredit either player as not as good as is being said, are just as fickle if not more than the players you are accusing of being so.

I'm not so sure about Smoot, but you're absolutely right about Pierce. He was the quarterback of the defense last year and deserved to go to the probowl, but with the money already tied up in Marcus and Lavar, we just couldn't pay him. Oh well, the hell with him.

[MrSilverMaC]

I'm not so sure about Smoot, but you're absolutely right about Pierce. He was the quarterback of the defense last year and deserved to go to the probowl, but with the money already tied up in Marcus and Lavar, we just couldn't pay him. Oh well, the hell with him.

I think Smoot's coverage surpasses anything on our D except for Springs. He would enable us to be more daring in our blitzes, IMO at least. And if nothing else, Rogers learning from him and Springs would be better than learning from Harris and Springs.

Although I will say Haris has held down the other CB job better than I thought, but not as well as some touted.

[MrSilverMaC]

Well, the figure five million Stands out in my mind for pierce. Dunno how much we offered. But, given or salary cup situation how much could we seriously do? Moreover, I agree we had to also shed some overspending patterns of our past. It just happened to come at she expense of two players that were fan favorites. Sucks for Smoot the most though.

If The Danny wanted to, he could have found a way. He very is good friends with the cap fairy.


It is what it is though. And the coaches have definitaley doen a good job filling the gaps left by those two.

I just hate to see people posting about Pierce and Smoot like they were unreasonable, and left ASAP without so much as a glance back.

[Neophyte]

Reading this, it appears as though our initial offer was a lowball attempt. A way to try to get Pierce for way below market value. My guess is that if we had made him an initial offer close to what our final offer to him was, he would have been signed before the FA period even got close.

As to Smoot, I don't miss him. Especially not now that all the crap has hit the fan in MN. He showed me something last year that I did not think he had but frankly I think Harris is a better tackler than Smoot will ever be and I very much doubt Smoot would have made a couple of game saving tackles Harris has made for us (thinking especially of Dallas here).

Given the choice between keeping either Smoot or Pierce I would keep Pierce. I honesty think we win both the Denver game and the KC game with Pierce on the field while I don't think Smoot would have made a difference in either case.

[Tommy-the-Greek]

Does anyone know what the Redskin offer to him was?

On average do MLB's around the league make more then OLB's?