Reactions to Chris Cooley Release
By Josh Sanchez
The Washington Redskins released veteran tight end Chris Cooley this week and the organization has come under some fire. A few former players and fans believe that the Redskins should have been more respectful to Cooley and released him earlier in this offseason in order to give him more time to find a new home.
One of the more outspoken former Redskins LaVar Arrington made his feelings very clear when speaking on 106.7 The Fan today.
“He should have been treated better than this,” LaVar Arrington said. “If you were gonna get rid of Chris Cooley, you should have gave him an offseason to try to find a gig.”
Later on in the show Cooley himself was asked by Dan Hellie whether or not he was treated fairly by the organization he had given so much to.
“Yeah, I can’t say that I’m surprised, because you understand the business,” he said. “And you can look at the logistics of our roster and our salary cap and say, what’s likely? I hoped otherwise. Obviously, I didn’t want this to happen.
“I think the idea of being released earlier was a thought of mine,” he added. “I had mentioned to some people that that would be good for me. It wouldn’t have. Not that they made the decision [earlier] — nothing about their decision. Just spending the time in training camp, trying to prove that I was healthy, practicing every day — I never missed a day, I never missed anything — I proved to myself that I’m healthy.
“And as we got to this week, I have no doubt that I can play an entire season. And I figured that would be the case, but until you prove it, you’re not sure. And as training camp went on and we got into the last couple weeks of practice, I started to watch some of that film and think,this is the guy that I know I am. It wasn’t always that, through our OTAs and through our offseason. But towards the end of training camp, I thought, I’m starting to be the player that I know I am.”
Cooley is going to take some time to regroup and determine his next move. As for the Redskins, they are ready to move ahead with Fred Davis and Niles Paul at tight end.