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I am scared of LaRon Landry.

We use a lot of euphemisms and sayings for hard hitting players in the NFL. One of the frequently quoted claims on Landry is that he injures people, that he puts them in the hospital with his big hits. This is not a "saying" and should be treated literally.

Per his High School Coach per the Post:

"If they go over the middle, I'll bet on him. I'll give him a dollar if he take T.O. out," said Lou Valdin, Landry's coach at Hahnville High. "He'll shut him up because he can hit you and hurt your whole family. Interception for a touchdown or put a guy in the hospital? That's a tough decision for LaRon."
"your whole family"? Ok. But hosptializing people? Come on, you're just talking him up...
There was the story of Landry being tested at safety as a sophomore and during practice putting Hahnville's best receiver in the hospital.

"We had one of the top receivers in the South being recruited everywhere and one of the first plays of training camp, LaRon puts him in the hospital. Put his feet over his head, and so, we found a safety.

And so did we. What scares me from the four page article aren't the thrilling hits he seems to lay on guys, but rather the borderline ones mentioned. As an example, in High School (he was a quarterback then) he got rattled by a cheap shot and ended up kneeing someone on the other team. That got him ejected. I certainly don't want him injuring our players during practice, either.

I think it is naive to hope that LaRon Landry will somehow reform his big hitting ways once he gets to the NFL, so expect a few errant flags here or there. What we drafted Landry to do is hit and hurt large adults. Demanding that he tone down that intensity in circumstance X and not circumstance Y is difficult, as the two are connected.

It reminds me of last preseason when fans were complaining about Portis putting himself in harm's way when he dislocated his shoulder on a vicious hit on cornerback Keiwan Ratliff (who had just intercepted a Brunell pass). The fact is, the intensity that gets Clinton Portis to chase down a cornerback on a 52 yard interception return and level him is the same intensity that gets CP over the goal line, or helps him break a game wide open with a huge 30+ yard run. I suspect that the same is true of Landry. The urge to hurt and maim opponents drives both his borderline hits that could end up as penalties as well as his legal hits that knock balls loose or make receivers think twice before catching one over the middle. Getting the one without the other is a Herculean coaching task, though best of luck with that, Redskins.

What Landry doesn't project to be is an off-field problem. By all indications Landry's parents, Frank and Rhonda, raised LaRon (and his brother Dawan) right. Anectodes and evidence to that effect are strewn throughout the above article, though it closes with the most telling:

"They were raised right," Valdin says. "Joe Gibbs won't have anything to worry about. If he's got a problem with LaRon up in Washington, don't even worry about Frank. Just call Rhonda. She'll take care of everything."
Character is not an issue. Hospital bills... maybe.