Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett recently explained the problems presented by defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.
“He can do almost anything he wants,” Haslett told 101 ESPN radio in St. Louis. “He doesn’t want to do anything. To me that’s the issue. 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.”
In a Monday appearance on The LaVar Arrington Show with Chad Dukes on 106.7 The Fan in D.C., Redskins defensive end Vonnie Holliday agreed with Haslett’s remarks. But Holliday also said that the coaching staff didn’t handle the situation properly
“Short of getting into a fight with Big Al, you can’t tell him what to do,” Holliday said, via NFL.com. “As frank as Coach Haslett was on the radio station about what transpired throughout the course of last year with Albert I thought there was a missed opportunity there for coaches.
“Maybe this is something that was just instilled in me early in my career -- you just don’t take your phone to a meeting. If a phone rings in a meeting it is an issue. It is a problem. You are going to get cursed out, fussed out and fined. Any number of things are going to happen to you by your coach. I’m terrified.
“These younger guys it is not the same. It’s not looked at as the same. Unfortunately Albert ... some of the stuff that Coach Haslett is talking about, having a phone in the meeting, it was just not addressed. Coming up, you’re telling a guy, ‘Hey don’t bring your phone to a meeting. You can’t do that.’ I mean, the way we get through to these guys is to fine them and that just never happened throughout the year.”
Eventually, the Redskins suspended Haynesworth four games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team. If the Redskins keep him around in 2011, it remains to be seen whether minor rules violations will be punished as those minor rules violations occur.
We doubt that they will. Then again, we also doubt that the Redskins will keep Haynesworth around in 2011.