I am going to change my stance on Albert Haynesworth a bit. Was he acting like a Diva? Yes. Is it more bout the money than it is the team? Of course. However the mess he and the Washington Redskins find themselves in is not entirely his fault. I am going to put some of the blame on Head Coach Mike Shanahan. Mike has drawn a line in the sand, and at times this situation looks to be more about punishing Haynesworth for signing his ridiculous contract, then it is anything else. At the end of the day, Haynesworth needs to not be on their roster and it now looks like Shanahan is holding that process up.
The Redskins have had a few opportunities to rid themselves of this problem. They could have cut him during the final roster cut downs and been done with this. They did not, thinking they can get something in trade for him, but Shanahan is hurting the value of him by playing on the scout team, and having him play with the second and third stringers in the pre-season games. His staff has also gone public bashing Haynesworth and his overall effort (or lack of effort).
This is not going to get any better, and the ‘Skins really should have cut Haynesworth and moved on. Now it looks like Shanahan is holding up any deal for him unless Shanahan gets what he demands. It seems at this point, having Albert on the roster is such a distraction that taking the best deal the team can get would be the smartest move.
It seems to me that Shanahan is using the unpopularity of Haynesworth to prove a point to everyone else. While I kind of see the value for a head coach is doing so, I think he is risking leaving a cancer on his roster that might undue his work for this season.
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