Jarvis Landry responds to Dolphins apparent criticisms

The Miami Dolphins have not publicly said anything bad about Jarvis Landry. Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald recently told readers that privately they have reservations and concerns. Landry’s camp has responded.

Call it the nature of the business. Rarely do you get new contracts without hurting someones feelings in the process. It is after all the NFL and it is a business. But it’s a business for the both the players and the teams.

In a new article by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Landry’s agent Damarius Bilbo discusses some of the accusations leveled at his client throughout the article. To catch up Salguero cited inside sources that the Dolphins are concerned about Landry not running the right routes, not putting in the apparent film time, being what Salguero quoted as “a pain” to work with. He even said someone told him that he doesn’t often get along with coaches. In a nutshell.

Bilbo is denying some of those. He told Jackson that all players will miss assignments at some point and that running the wrong routes happens as well from time to time. They are saying that the negotiations thus far have been “disrespectful”.

Jackson says that in a phone interview with Landry, he was told that Landry wants to remain in South Florida. As it pertains to being a leader, Landry thinks he has shown that level of professionalism.

"“My agent and I talked about being a leader and setting a good example so I silenced all those things by going to OTAs and training camp, by putting the team first and being a team guy. I feel like in the NFL, they preach loyalty and family and they have none for you. As a player, you see it’s not a family during negotiations, how it becomes them versus me or me versus them. That’s part of the NFL I believe the fans don’t see.” Via Barry Jackson"

According to several media reports the two sides exchanged offers earlier in December. One rumor placed the initial Dolphins offer in the $12 million range while the counter offer was rumored to be in the $14 million range. You would think that the $13 million a year range would be a simple fix.

The Dolphins have yet to reply to the counter offer by Landry’s camp and that has them wondering what the deal is. It also has Bilbo questioning the legitimacy of the Salguero sources and he wonders aloud if the Dolphins were not trying to help their cause by leaking information.

"“This is a leverage thing — someone trying to gain leverage by devaluing him to the rest of the NFL. I’m not going to stand for that. If these [criticisms] were coming from the Dolphins they were unfair.” Via Barry Jackson."

The good news is that the two sides have apparently spoken since the season’s end and Miami has said they want him back. Bilbo said that while the sides are far apart they are not so much that something can’t get done. In the meantime fans want to know why both sides are bickering over what could be one or two million a year considering that is an unfathomable amount to the average fan.

For now, the Salguero article may indeed be nothing more than an exaggeration by the team and the fact that Landry’s camp is speaking out on the subject clearly implies that there are differing views of what is likely the truth. Take the time to read all of what Landry and Bilbo said about the situation in the link above.