Zac Boyer will be entering his third season covering the Washington Redskins for The Free Lance-Star this fall. Make sure to follow Zac on Twitter (@ZacBoyer) for the latest updates or e-mail him with any questions at zboyer@freelancestar.com.
Jabar Gaffney Not With Redskins As Team Seeks Potential Trade
By ZAC BOYER | zboyer@freelancestar.com | @ZacBoyer
Jabar Gaffney, who led the Washington Redskins in nearly all receiving categories this past season, has been told by the team to stay home and not participate in its voluntary workout program as it attempts to work out a trade.
Gaffney
A Redskins spokesman confirmed Gaffney has not been working out with his teammates in Ashburn. The team opened its voluntary workouts on Monday with 57 of the 63 players under contract in attendance.
Gaffney told ESPN 980, which first reported Gaffney was not with teammates at Redskins Park, that head coach Mike Shanahan and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan were excited to have him back. He had 68 catches for 947 yards and five touchdowns in 2011, all of which were team highs.
“I was their man. I was gonna be back. I did everything they asked and even more,” Gaffney said. “Even after making the deals for [receivers Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan], I was good. I was gonna be a part of that. They were just trying to rebuild the receiving corps and make a better team. Then all of a sudden, I don’t have to be there for voluntary workouts and they’ve given me the opportunity to go shop around for a trade.”
Gaffney, 31, said the timing was strange, given he was told about the possibility of a trade on Friday – the day after he claimed his Twitter account was hacked. He has since deleted the account, which, on last Thursday, contained an expletive-filled tirade directed toward his wife and Oakland cornerback Lito Sheppard, his cousin.
But Gaffney also said the team has told him it has been working on finding a potential trade partner for the last two weeks. Acquired via a trade with Denver last July, Gaffney is in the final year of a four-year deal and is scheduled to make $2.65 million this fall.
Whether or not a trade would be for salary cap purposes is something Gaffney told the radio station he doesn’t know. The team was docked $18 million in salary cap room in March for circumventing league spending recommendations in 2010 and has had significantly less money available to spend on players this offseason.
What he doesn’t hope, he said, is that the Redskins are trying to move Gaffney to make room for Robert Griffin III, the Baylor quarterback it is expected to make the No. 2 pick next week in the NFL Draft. Both players wear No. 10.
“I mean, No. 10 is the number I’ve worn since college,” he said, laughing. “That’s my number. I mean, I don’t even want to think that way, that they’re getting rid of me so that he can have that number without no consequence. I don’t even want to put that in my head.”
