Arrington, Redskins headed to arbitration

ASHBURN, Va. - As expected, the rift between linebacker LaVar Arrington and the Washington Redskins will have to be settled by an arbitrator.

Arrington, who signed a nine-year, $68 million contract in December, contends the deal with the Redskins, which was put together quickly because of a salary cap related deadline is missing a $6.5 million signing bonus for the year 2006.

The Washington Post, which reported the two sides were headed to arbitration in Friday's editions, said the original hearing was set for Sept. 21 _ nine days after Washington's regular-season opener against Tampa Bay. However, it will now be moved up to early next month.

The three-time Pro Bowl selection said in March _ the month he filed the complaint against Washington through NFL offices _ that he would let the arbitration hearing play itself out and that working things out would be a patient, yet aggressive, process.

``The most mature thing to do is see where we can go with it,'' Arrington said at a March minicamp. ``That doesn't mean I'm going to be weak about it, but I'm willing to see what type of resolution we can get out of this whole thing.''

Neither team representatives nor Carl Poston, Arrington's agent, returned phone messages.