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We feel like we need A.J. Benza’s smoke machine from that old show “Hollywood’s Unsolved Mysteries.” What is going on with LaRon Landry? . . .
This Landry situation is a real mystery.
On March 19, 2012, the safety agreed to a one-year deal with the Jets for a reported $4 million. But ever since the Jets off-season program started on April 17, he’s hardly been around. And he was absent for the start of OTA’s on Monday.
The fact that he hasn’t participated much in the off-season activities is a little surprising. Having been trained by Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, sticklers for off-season participation, Mike Tannenbaum has been obsessed with players attending off-season workouts. He generally likes to put wording into contracts to promote participation.
But clearly Landry and the Jets have an arrangement. First of all, Landry never was big on attending the off-season program in Washington, preferring to train in Arizona.
But that isn’t the only factor at work here. He’s also trying to get his Achilles tendon into playing shape, and the alternative treatments he’s seeking, aren’t administered by NFL teams – stem cell and platelet rich plasma therapies. It’s unclear where he is going for these treatments. It could be outside the country. Stem cell treatments are very controversial in the states.
A big reason the Redskins didn’t re-sign Landry after the 2011 season, was because he refused to have Achilles surgery. They weren’t on board with his alternative approaches. They feel he needs to go under the knife.
They shut him down after eight games last year due to the Achilles. He also had hamstring and groin injuries last year, which might have been caused due to overcompensating for the Achilles injury. The Achilles injury actually occured in 2010, and he has been doing everything he can to avoid surgery.
The Jets are rolling the dice, letting him do his thing, and if he can’t go in September, they can always cut him before the opener, so they don’t owe him the $4 million.
And clearly they have plenty of insurance with the signing of Yeremiah Bell and the drafting of Josh Bush and Antonio Allen. They also have Tracy Wilson, who they spent a lot of time last year developing.
You know what is kind of ironic about the signing of Bell to backup or replace Landry; in September of 2007, Bell torn his Achilles, had the surgery, and missed most of that season. But he came back strong, and has played the last four seasons with no problem. He’d probably advise Landry to just go ahead and have the surgery.
The Jets’ OTA practices are open to the media on Thursday, and expect the press to ask Rex a bunch of questions about Landry. But expect some major tap-dancing. Don’t expect straight answers. Just like you can’t get a straight answer from his agent. Joe Segal told the Newark Star-Ledger last week that he had no idea where Landry was training this off-season. Yeah right.
Clearly when the Jets and Landry signed this contract, the current scenario where LaRon would be off training on his own, and looking for alternative options, was agreed upon. This mystery could go into August.
And for all we know, Landry could be in Bulgaria, getting some exotic treatment we don’t have in the United States.
(Premium will return by 8 pm on Thursday with a report from the OTA’s.)