Albert Haynesworth Fails Conditioning Test, So What Now?
Things just can’t seem to go right in the relationship between Albert Haynesworth and the Washington Redskins. The offseason between the two sides has been a disaster. With the arrival of Mike Shanahan to be the new head coach of the Redskins, he’s had to deal with constant distractions caused by the richest defensive tackle in the league.
First, with the switch to a 3-4 defensive system, Haynesworth got so upset over the switch that he skipped the team’s offseason program. Despite sitting out, Haynesworth stated that things were now OK with the team and he was ready to come into training camp and work hard. Shanahan still wanted Haynesworth to take the conditioning test that he didn’t take during organized team activities (OTAs), and perhaps unsurprisingly, Haynesworth failed the test.
Haynesworth appeared to be in better shape as he’s lost over 20 pounds this offseason and promised he wouldn’t be a distraction at training camp.
In March, Coach Shanahan offered Haynesworth a chance to leave the team. Haynesworth was due a $20 million dollar bonus by the team and the team wanted to know if their enormous long-term investment was worth keeping. Haynesworth decided to stay with the team, collected the paycheque, then proceeded to sit out all OTAs just because of an unwillingness to shift to nose-tackle.
Haynesworth will now not be allowed to practice with the team until he passes the test, a source said.
Haynesworth did not fare too well on his conditioning test. He passed the first part of the test, but during the second part, he claimed he needed a bathroom break. When he came back for the second part of the test, he had to start from the beginning. He was unable to finish it and walked through it.
Shanahan had said before camp that Haynesworth wouldn’t be allowed to practice with the team until he had passed the test.
"I'm expecting him to be in great shape," Shanahan said before the test. "And if he's not in great shape, then we're going to do what we need to do to get him in shape. Once he gets to that point, hopefully he'll fit into our system and do the things we want him to do, because, if he does, he can be an excellent football player for us. If not, we're going to be very good anyhow."
Shanahan must really not be getting a good impression from Haynesworth now. He was asked if he could see Haynesworth now being a part of the team for the 2010 season and all Shanahan could reply with was: “We’ll see. All I can do is tell you we're going to give him every opportunity to show us what we can do." The then added, "Hopefully he'll like the position that we play him in and give us everything that he's got."
The position that the Redskins are planning to put him in is what caused all the problems so far. Haynesworth has expressed his unhappiness with the Redskins plan to go to a 3-4 and shift him to nose tackle and would rather play for another team, in his usual defensive tackle position in a 4-3 system. There were circulating rumours during the draft that Haynesworth would actually be traded back to his original team, the Tennessee Titans.
Shanahan already gave him the chance to go play for someone else, but the door closed when Haynesworth took the money. This just adds to the list of bad offseason moves that the owner of the franchise, Dan Snyder, has made. What can the Redskins do now if they don’t want to keep Haynesworth? They’re stuck with a seven year $100 million contract and it doesn’t look like Haynesworth’s future in Washington is looking any brighter.
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