Shanahan Says Haynesworth Will Be With The Redskins This Weekend

Added on Sep 08, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

In one of the least convincing vote of confidence statements since George W. Bush’s infamous ‘you’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie’ prop to FEMA head Mike Brown immediately after Hurricane Katrina, Washington Redskins’ coach Mike Shanahan is attempting to put the on-going Albert Haynesworth soap opera to rest–at least for this week. Despite a number of trade rumors, including a potential ‘Haynesworth to Titans’ deal, Shanahan has confirmed in his weekly media conference that Haynesworth will be with the team for Sunday’s season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

“Albert will be with us this week. For sure.”

He sidestepped questions about trade scenarios by saying:

“If he wasn’t here, I think you’d call me a liar, wouldn’t you? And you’d have the right to do that. Okay?”

Shanahan also spoke of his relationship with Haynesworth:

“You might not think we ever communicate, but we do sometimes. Even though the sources have not talked about us communicating.”

The best line came when asked whether Haynesworth would start this weekend–Shanahan declined to answer it, suggesting it would give the Cowboys ‘a competitive advantage’.

Haynesworth may be with the Redskins this week, but don’t expect him to play much. And he shouldn’t be looking at real estate in the Washington area, as every indication still suggests he’ll be gone by the trade deadline. Until then, he’s a problem and a distraction as linebacker Brian Orakpo confirmed:

“It’s very distracting, but we try not to let it get to us. Because we’re tired of talking about it, Albert’s tired of talking about it, Shanahan’s tired of talking about it. Everybody is. We want to move on to be a normal team in this league and not worry about individualism. …We got a big game coming up and we can’t be worrying about No. 92 right now and all this speculation.”

The previous day, Redskins’ starting QB Donovan McNabb spent much of a sports radio interview making a case for the Redskins retaining Haynesworth’s services:

“Albert is a guy that’s one of our brothers in the locker room, and we want to protect him and make sure that he’s taken care of and he’s fine. Albert is a guy who understands now, he understands that, ‘Hey, I’ve got to put the time and effort in to get an opportunity to show what I can do.’ And he knows what he can do.

“We can’t win without Albert. He plays a major part on our defense, and everyone knows that. It’s just unfortunate what’s been going on and how everything has transpired, but that’s the game of football, and I think he’ll handle it the right way. … I think he’ll be here. I hope he’ll be here. … As a player, you would want Albert to be here.”

Haynesworth has collected around $32 million of guarantee money from the huge contract he signed before the 2009 season. Haynesworth signed a $100 million contract with the Redskins, including $41 million in guaranteed money. Haynesworth will earn a guaranteed $3.6 million in 2010 and $5.4 million in 2011. McNabb appears to be trying to broker some reconciliation between Haynesworth and the coaches and management, but at this point it looks to be too late to keep the defensive tackle in a Washington uniform. Notoriously hands-on owner Daniel Snyder wants him gone, coach Mike Shanahan wants him gone, and its doubtful that McNabb is willing to go to war with the coaching staff and ownership of his new team to press his case that Haynesworth should stay.