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Enough is enough already. We need to finally cut all the bull out of Redskins Park. I thought that's why we hired Mike Shanahan. Apparently I was mistaken because the Redskins organization is still playing games and once again is the laughingstock of the league. It happens every August. It's like a rite of a passage.
Usually it's because of some wild spending spree in the offseason that has everyone in the organization feeling like the Skins are legitimate Super Bowl contenders. The fans get excited, the media hypes up the moves and then the team inevitably crashes and burns by about week 5.
This year it's coming in a different form. The Redskins made a deal with the devil that is Albert Haynesworth before last season signing him to a $100 million dollar contract. But that blunder was on the old regime. The problem is they compounded their mistake when they gave a bad character guy a $20 million dollar roster bonus in April.
If they wanted to cut ties with Big Al they could have done in then. But Albert promised to be at all of the required mini camps and the Redskins know that when healthy and on the field he's one of the top 5 defensive tackles in all of football. Albert made it clear to the coaching staff though that he wanted to work out on his own with his personal trainer at home in Tennessee.
As we all know, the Skins didn't like it but there was nothing they could do since the majority of the OTA's are voluntary. Nevermind that every other player participated in the team's program.
The truth is superstars from various teams often times work out their own workout regimen's outside of the organized team program. It's the luxury of being a superstar in the NFL.
The big problem occurred though when Albert, still bristling at the move to a 3-4 defense, tried to force the Redskins hand by not attending "mandatory" mini camp in June. This publicly embarrassed Shanahan and Bruce Allen and the stage was set for a showdown when training camp officially began July 29.
It's been well documented that Haynesworth appeared to take his training seriously and actually showed up 35 pounds lighter than he ended last season.
But that wasn't good enough for the new staff. They had to put Albert in his place for being insubordinate and demanded that he pass this now famous 300 yard shuttle run twice in 70 and 73 seconds respectively.
By all accounts, it's a fairly standard run that football coaches employ to test the conditioning of their players. We all know Albert took too long a break between his first and second run; then later he failed to get in under the required 70 seconds and subsequently has shut it down at various points because of a balky knee.
Shanahan has been adamant that until Haynesworth passes the test he won't be able to demonstrate that he's in "football shape" and Shanahan won't put him on the field. Meanwhile every media member in town and around the country has taken the test and most have passed. But are they in football shape? Does anybody believe that Mike Golic, at 47 years old, could last two plays in the NFL at this point? With all due respect to Dave Feldman from Channel 5, does anybody think Feldy is in football shape? In my opinion nobody in the media is in that kind of shape.
So what's the deal? Obviously the test is meaningless. Why don't they just see how many envelopes Albert can lick in 70 seconds because that's about as relevant to stuffing the run or pressuring the quarterback as that stupid shuttle run.
And now we are at a standstill. Shanahan has backed himself in a corner, saying Albert can't play until he passes the stupid test. Haynesworth appears to be one-upping him, saying his knee hurts too bad to complete the test - Yet no MRI or serious examination of the knee is scheduled.
Has anybody in the organization actually looked at Big Al? He looks freaking great. He's the sexiest 330 pounder in the world as far as I'm concerned. For all his issues - and he's got a lot of them - the man is a beast on the football field. Let's unleash the beast already.
While Shanahan is a Hall of Fame football coach who deserves to be respected, sometimes superstar players still get the best of them. Big Al did it his way. He took the money, blew off the workouts, and showed up 35 pounds lighter and ready to play football. He's a difference maker on the football field and everybody knows it.
Somebody of lesser talent and a smaller paycheck would have been released months ago, but the Redskins decided to give this monster a $100 million dollar payday despite all the warning signs. It's too late to back out now. It's time to get our money's worth. Test or no test, let's unleash the beast. Get him on the field.
