Albert Haynesworth Continues to Prove He’s a Selfish Player and Person

It was rumored for months that Albert Haynesworth wanted out of Washington, and that the Redskins were looking for teams to take him off their hands. The Redskins denied those claims, however, and when nothing happened during draft weekend it looked like it was just a bunch of speculation.

But now Haynesworth and his agent have released a statement to the public, as well as to the Redskins, outlining Haynesworth’s intentions for the upcoming mandatory minicamps to be held by new head coach Mike Shanahan.

“The Redskins are trying to establish a new regime with new schemes at Redskins Park, and it is not an organization that Albert would have ever been attracted to just a short year ago — regardless of the money,” agent Chad Speck told the Washington Post. “He has made it clear to me that he does not want to play for the Washington Redskins.

“This situation will be a distraction to the Redskins and to Albert and his teammates,” Speck continued.  “I am certain Mike Shanahan and Bruce [Allen] want to get the most out of their first year and it’s probably in everyone’s best interests for the Redskins to make a deal and trade Albert.”

So, in a nutshell, Haynesworth is going to hold his breath until he turns blue and throw a temper-tantrum in the locker room until the Redskins find a team idiotic enough to take him off their hands.

While it is incredibly pathetic, it’s not surprising in the least.

Haynesworth is a guy who has been incredibly overrated for years now and has shown that he’s motivated by one thing and one thing only: money. He doesn’t have a whole lot of interest in winning a Super Bowl or being remembered as a great player, as long as he retires with as much money in his pocket as possible.

And while I’d fully be in favor of the Redskins fining him as much as possible and basically holding him hostage for as long as they can, it’s tough to have any sympathetic feelings for them. They had to know what they were getting into with this guy not only as a player, but as a person.

As a player, it’s clear that he only plays when he feels a contract is at stake. For instance, from his rookie season in 2002 until 2006 (five seasons), Haynesworth had a grand total of 9.5 sacks.

That’s it.

Then, in 2007, when he thinks he’s going to be playing to earn a long-term deal after that season, he turns it on and plays pretty well, but still not as great as everyone would have you think. That season, Haynesworth racked up six sacks in 13 games, as well as 32 tackles.

While that’s certainly not a season to scoff at, the Titans were clearly not sold. So instead of giving him a long-term deal, they slap the franchise tag on him and, what do you know, he plays even better in 2008 than he did in ’07.

In 14 games that year, Haynesworth racked up 8.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and threw in 41 tackles for good measure.

In come the Redskins with that enormous contract and, of course, the production dips. He was only able to play in 12 games last year and was only able to muster four sacks — one every three games.

Also, even during his years when he was playing for the big money, Haynesworth couldn’t find a way to stay on the field and has only played in all 16 games once in his career, and it just happens to be his rookie season in ’02.

This isn’t to say Haynesworth isn’t a good, even great, player. Because he is. He’s shown that time and again he can create havoc and make an entire defensive line better. The defensive ends in Washington were clearly better because Haynesworth was there to take pressure off them and the rest of the team.

But it’s very hard to justify paying a guy like Haynesworth the type of money he got when he’s shown that he’s only a great player when he chooses, and he only chooses when he believes there’s money to be made.

He’s demanding a trade because the Redskins want to play him at nose tackle in their new 3-4 scheme, and he doesn’t want to do it.

What exactly does that say to any team looking to acquire him from the Redskins? It tells them he’s not a good teammate, only looks out for what he wants, and won’t do what it takes to take his team to the next level.

Why any team would even think about trading for a guy like Haynesworth is absolutely beyond me, but someone will do it if no other reason than the temptation of his wasted ability. NFL head coaches have uncontainable egos and there’s at least one guy out there who believes he can get through to him.

Perhaps heading back to Tennessee or up to Detroit to be reunited with Jim Schwartz would help keep him motivated, but he’ll probably just find something to complain about there as well.

Bottom line: at the end of the day, Haynesworth is a detriment to any team. He might be able to make an impact on the field, but that’s overshadowed by the fact that he gets injured more than guys half his size and can’t stay on the field for an entire season and is clearly not a guy willing to put the team ahead of himself.

Hopefully the Redskins keep him, fine him to the fullest extent for every day he misses, and do everything they can to milk every penny out of him before dumping him to a dreadful team like Detroit, St. Louis, or Cleveland.

Or, just to really piss him off, any of the other several teams running the 3-4.