Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

"Damn... they didn't say anything about running when they paid me $100 million."

Hearing Washington Redskins nose tackle Albert Haynesworth say “I’m not good enough”, as he did on Thursday in regard to playing his team’s 3-4 defense, is like hearing an infant say he’s not old enough to drink. Some things are just inherently obvious.

Of course, hearing an infant speaking would be akin to winning the lottery in terms of its sheer unlikelihood, but it is even more of a fitting analogy when one considers just how Haynesworth has failed to grow up and be a man. You see, extraordinarily, he’s found the perfect balance in essentially winning the lottery and behaving like a baby at the same time, refusing to take on-field responsibility for his huge contract like he should.

After signing a seven-year, $100-million deal in 2009, Haynesworth has yet to re-establish himself as a Pro-Bowl-calibre player. He last made the game in 2008, his last with the Tennessee Titans. He’s certainly come a long way, and not for the better, since being voted the league’s most dominant defender by his peers in October 2009. Admittedly, the stomping incident on Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode that yielded a five-game suspension in 2006 is also in the past and should stay there, but the truth of the matter is no one truly fears a man of Haynesworth’s physical conditioning, especially following the events of this past off-season.

At 6’6”, 335 pounds, Haynesworth is a big man, but, playing in a league where size most definitely counts, the one positive he can take away from his whole stint in Washington is the legions of male fans he’s won over by disproving the “bigger is better” myth. Haynesworth essentially could not pass a sprinting test in 10 days that most everyone else could do in a matter of 10 minutes, singlehandedly discrediting the term “professional athlete”... both words.

His well-documented scuffles with head coach Mike Shanahan and reluctance to embrace change to the team’s defensive make-up all make it readily apparent that Haynesworth is not a team player. When you make $100 million, you seldom are. When you turn down an opportunity to be released and play in a defensive system of your choice just for the sake of collecting a $21-million signing bonus, which he received in April, it only builds up the case further against your character, or lack thereof.

Granted, his candor is appreciated and it’s somehow admirable that he was able to acknowledge his deficiencies in front of the media on Thursday. The first step is admitting you have a problem, after all. Unfortunately, not being good enough means never being able to overcome it, if it was the least bit true. He’s proven he’s capable of being an elite athlete, yet his refusal to not play the starting role set out for him by the Redskins is childish and just goes to show that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, if he was acting his age (29), that is.