As the Chargers begin player evaluations this week, a well-respected sports writer is calling the management team out on how they are handling the future of star running back LaDainian Tomlinson using the word "cowardly" to describe the team's way of doing business.
Jim Trotter, Sports Illustrated Senior NFL Writer is criticizing the recent public discussions over L.T. asking the question “When will a superstar player leave the Chargers on good terms?”
There has been a lot of talk that the Chargers will consider trading LaDainian Tomlinson this off-season.
"I've tried to be the best professional, best player, best person in the community that this organization has ever seen, that's what I've always tried to do and will continue to do because that's who I am," Tomlinson told Trotter in a recent SI.com article. "But to be treated like this... this is what man will do to you: Man will build you up and make you think that you're the greatest and that you're going to be here forever, and then man does this. Man crucifies you."
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All Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith will say is that L.T.'s future, like everyone elses on the team, will be discussed later during organizational meetings that begin January 27.
"I think it's ridiculous to be talking about trade and me not being here, that's just my personal opinion," Tomlinson told SI.com. "Now I have people calling me, talking about this all the time; this has become a big story and I don't want this."
Tomlinson's last two seasons were cut short by injury. Health and age will be two issues for the Chargers to talk about. L.T. will be 30 before next season.
“In my opinion, I know this is going to sound strong, but it’s a cowardly way of doing business,” said Trotter Sunday referring to how the Chargers have handled the publicity swirling around L.T. “Dean Spanos should step up and say what happened here is not acceptable.”
“I thought it [the team] had learned from the way it handled the Rodney Harrison – Junior Seau situation," Trotter said. "It didn’t have to be this way."
For Trotter's story, read SI.com's article "Chargers Handling Tomlinson Like Journeyman, Not Hall of Famer."
