Chris Cooley’s wonderful for many reasons, including but not limited to the fact he tried to work beer into his contract and the fact he’s a renowned potter.
He can add “judge of character” to his Renaissance man resume, after he described former Redskins teammate Albert Haynesworth as “an awful human being.”
During his show on ESPN 980 recently, he brought some Redskins history into a conversation about the awful Gilbert Arenas contract the NBA Wizards were saddled with.
“Every year, every team, someone signs a big contract and then they turn into a piece of dump,” Cooley said, via the Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post.
Asked whether the Arenas deal (six years, $111 million guaranteed) was worse than the one the Redskins gave Haynesworth in 2009 (seven years, $100 million total), Cooley was effusive. Keep in mind, Arenas malingered, brought a gun into the locker room and was suspended by the NBA for 50 games.
“No question, the Haynesworth contract,” Cooley said. “Because he was trying to get released by the team. His goal was to come here, make a large signing bonus, and then get released and not have to do any of the work. He didn’t care about the back end of that contract, he didn’t care about making all of that money. His idea was, you paid me for what I did in the past, and my goal is to be released as soon as possible and basically take $33 million from you for absolutely nothing. . . .
“His goal from the get-go was to take that money. He also indicated to many players on the team that his new goal was to get released as soon as possible, sign another maybe $10, 12 million contract — that’s verbatim — go somewhere, play for a year and probably get released, and keep that money too. I mean, if it was a player on this team currently, I would not discuss this on the air. But being the player that he was, and the guy that he was around here, this was open [knowledge] among many players in this locker room: that his goal was basically to take money.
“And it’s really unfortunate when that happens. I guess his point to it, or his excuse for it, was well, the leagues steal from all you guys, the leagues won’t pay you your salaries, they won’t give you your money, so I’m gonna get what’s right from them.”
Cooley’s always been open and honest, but hasn’t taken off on fellow players before.
Haynesworth’s play on the field (or lack thereof) speaks to his motives, but hearing a guy who used to work with him describe in such detail makes it that much more egregious.