Not surprising. What a waste of talent.
I’m a Redskins fan and I hate the Patriots, so I was quite pleased to see that trade and let him plague them instead. Him being released isn’t surprising at all. Sure he has attitude problems, but the larger problem is that he’s just lazy… really lazy.
Seriously, I’ve never seen a lazier athlete. There was the whole fitness test that he couldn’t pass, despite the fact that Mike Golic did it with zero training, despite being horribly out of shape and retired for years. There were other times where he would get “injured” on the field, sometimes multiple times a game, but be back in a few plays later. I suspect he was just out of shape and needed to rest. And I have seen some of his “highlights” where he’d just sort of lazily get out of his stance and either put forth no effort or just get knocked down and then just lay there while the blocker would go block someone else. For as much as he was getting paid, that level of laziness is inexcusable.
So, I can see how that would make him not fit in somewhere. And it is a shame because he was quite good when he put forth the effort. Maybe earlier in his career when he was younger he could rely more on natural talent or just youthful resilience, but it just couldn’t hold up as he got older. Either way, I will definitely PALATR if another team wastes their time on him with anything short of a bottom dollar deal as a free agent.
The reason it worked in Tennessee is that he hadn’t gotten paid yet.
Not sure would have to happen for him to turn it around, he’s still young and if he were somehow motivated he’d still probably make a Pro Bowl. Maybe sitting out for the rest of the year and making no money will be what does it.
Well, that was my worst prediction of the 2011 NFL season. I was sure Bill Belichick was just the guy to get both Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco to toe the line and play like Pro Bowlers again. I thought the acquisitions of Haynesworth and Ochocinco were brilliant moves.
Dead wrong on both scores. Both men have been utter busts.
The Patriots have their haters, some of it is deserved, but I appreciate how they handle their house business. They aren’t running a daycare.
Not particularly a Pats fan, but it wasn’t a bad gamble on their part. They got Haynesworth dirt cheap. I think (can anyone confirm?) the Redskins are still paying him an order of magnitude more money this season than the Patriots.
If that’s the case for a former All-Pro player, it was probably worth the gamble. Didn’t work out, but that happens. Maybe he’s a bust. But he’s a cheap bust that had a huge potential upside.
“I’m excited, you know. This is where I should have been like three years ago. But I think all good things come to somebody that waits,” Haynesworth said. :rolleyes:
I was hoping he’d be honest: “Yeah, I was pretty damn good and made a lot of money, but I still want a paycheck, so Tampa Bay, here I come. I may actually work hard for once after getting paid, but I really doubt it. If things don’t work out though, it won’t be my fault, it will be the system, the coach, or an injury. Now, which way to the all you can eat buffet?”
I think there’s strip clubs in Tampa with buffets. That’s where I’d start looking. I wonder if he drove his power boat to Tampa from DC.