The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Weaver letter has raised the rhetoric

By MIKE FREEMAN, Times-Union columnist


Oh, that Wayne Weaver is good. Really good.

Look at what he did. In a seemingly simple six-paragraph letter to the mayor, a letter that Weaver must have known would become public, a letter that on the surface seems cloyingly sweet and serene, but is actually a swift salutation to the groin, Weaver states that he will not pack up the team and depart, yet activated contractual clauses that might allow him to do just that.

That is exactly how to utilize the formidable power of the not-so-veiled threat while simultaneously erasing your fingerprints.

Just beautifully done.

Weaver is accessible, extremely intelligent and generous. When it comes to business, he is also fierce, cutthroat and smooth. You do not become a zillionaire by being a Boy Scout. You become a zillionaire by snacking on Boy Scouts.

In the letter he wrote to the mayor -- which over the last 48 hours has caused some football fans in this town to flock to the Jaguars' suicide hotline -- there was this sentence that was spectacularly Clintonian. "I want to be clear that it has not been my intention to move the team nor seek financial payments or guarantees like other small market NFL franchises," he wrote.

It has not been my intention to move the team.

Is that simply an erroneous choice of tense usage in a letter otherwise written with such precision?

Or is it a poke in the eye? A warning. A way of saying: "In the past, I was never going to move. But now, folks, hey, can't a guy change his mind?"

No one knows what Weaver is thinking except Weaver. Yet one thing is certain. Pre-letter, the disagreements between Weaver and the city focused on squabbling rich men trying to get richer.

Post-letter, the sports universe in Jacksonville has been irreparably changed. That note proved that when it comes to the allegedly unbreakable lease, the supposedly immovable team, that neither has probably ever been true. Weaver has put us all on notice with just a few simple words and adjectives that act like a sharp-edged blade, swinging back and forth, a pendulum he can use to possibly cut loose the bonds of a lease, and thus stab Jaguars fans in the heart.

This might be the beginning of a three to five-year preamble to positioning the Jaguars for a move to Los Angeles or Weaver getting out of the NFL ownership business altogether.

If this is just an example of Weaver putting on splendid acting job, of hardball negotiating, he is selling his role so well, Weaver should one day stand before a black tie crowd and say, "I'd like to thank the academy."

Weaver can emphatically deny any intention to move all he'd like but his actions are beginning to betray his words.

Before Jaguars fans chant the silly rant that the media is just being negative, use your brains for one moment. Your cognitive skills. The head your momma gave you.

Ask yourselves this question. Why would a man who is not thinking about leaving or selling the team even bother to activate lease-breaking language in the first place?

Either Weaver is dedicated to staying or he is not. Someone that wants to stay does not even consider taking such action.

Oh, Wayne Weaver is good.

Really good.

And he has just raised the stakes to an unprecedented level.

DEL RIO ON THIN ICE




We continue to hear rumblings that Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio is on the hot seat in the 'Ville, and that he likely will be fired if the team doesn't make the playoffs in 2005.



We've previously heard that Del Rio and V.P. of player personnel Shack Harris are feuding with Paul Vance, owner Wayne Weaver's right hand man. We've also heard that a fight with Vance is a fight that neither guy will win, given Vance's long history with Weaver.



Del Rio is expected look to the college game for his next gig, if his tenure with the Jags comes to an end. He flirted with the folks from LSU after the Nicktator was hired by the Fins, to the chagrin of the guy who signs Del Rio's checks.



Make no mistake about it -- Weaver is desperate to put his team in a position to make money. He went on the cheap with Del Rio, and to a certain extent Weaver is getting what he paid for. If Weaver wants to make it work in Jacksonville, he needs to put a crowbar to the wallet and hire a big-name coach with a history of success.