Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports, when not shooting a middle finger at the computer screen in response to reports of private lockout workouts, is posting thorough and detailed and multi-faceted story regarding free agency and the Eagles. (Rosenthal is writing something about it. After he gets back from chasing the ice cream truck around Manhattan on his tricycle.)
Buried in Silver’s article is news of Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth’s reaction to recent radio remarks from defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. Per Silver, Haynesworth is “very, very [angry]” about the comments. Haynesworth disputes the accuracy of the observations, and he is even more committed to not playing for the Redskins.
Appearing last week on 101 ESPN radio in St. Louis, Haslett criticized Haynesworth for refusing to listen to the team’s coaches. “He can do almost anything he wants. He doesn’t want to do anything. To me that’s the issue,” Haslett said. “He’s one of those guys you walk in a meeting and you tell him, ‘Put down the phone.’ The next day you have to tell him to put down the phone. The next day, you tell him to put down the phone.
“You tell him, ‘Don’t read the newspaper in meetings.’ The next day you have to tell him the same thing. It doesn’t stick; it’s an every-day thing.”
Silver mentions Haynesworth in an Eagles article because his former position coach in Tennessee, Jim Washburn, is now the defensive line coach in Philly. Per Silver, Washburn is hoping for a reunion.
The Redskins, not surprisingly, are holding out hope that Haynesworth will decide to stay with the team, and to accept his role in the 3-4 defense. Or maybe they’re simply trying to muster some/any trade leverage.
“When we left him he was suspended, so obviously it didn’t finish in a party at the end of the season,” Redskins G.M. Bruce Allen told Silver. “Last [offseason], we had several dialogues with his representative outlining and trying to project how the season would go and what different roles he might play. Obviously, it didn’t work out, for him or for us. We’ll have that same dialogue once we have a new CBA.
“Albert has been quite frank with me this entire time. I’m sure he will be once again. I’ve never had a problem with him being honest with me.”
Haynesworth apparently has a problem with a perceived lack of honesty from Haslett, but in all honesty there’s no way the Redskins are going to give Haynesworth away -- especially if he’ll land elsewhere in the division and have a chance to wreak the kind of havoc twice per year on the Redskins that he never has wreaked on their behalf.