JoeBucsFan is reporting that Roy Cummings said this yesterday on the Miller and Mouton radio show:
Miller & Moulton: Albert Haynesworth is two years and $9 million total for this year and next year, and he clearly wants to play defensive end in a 4-3. And when he’s motivated and playing defensive end in a 4-3, or even tackle but moves to end in pass rushing situations, he is a force. Does that make any sense at all [for the Bucs]?. …It’s a need. He’ll be motivated. Does that make any sense at all?
Roy Cummings: It makes a great deal of sense and here’s why: Don’t forget. The Buccaneers were the team that offered Albert Haynesworth more money than anybody else in the NFL last year. A lot of people forget that – conveniently want to ignore that fact. … You know what, I think it makes all kinds of sense. It’s a ballsy move. I don’t know if he’s going to do it. They do want to be young here more than anything. But you know what, if Stylez White can’t wake up in these last two preseason games and show them what he’s got, why not? Go give it a shot. I mean, money really is not an issue. People don’t want to believe that here. Everybody, you know, on your end of things here in Tampa Bay wants to keep talking about money here and money there and how much the Glazers are or are not spending. I can tell you right now, if they think can get Albert Haynesworth, and it ends up becoming a wash in terms of what the payroll is, they’ll do it. And they’ll go out and get him. And you know what, he’ll make the team a better football team in a hurry.
Now I don't want to seem too harsh here but that is maybe the dumbest scenario I have heard floated in a very very long time. Lets dissect this from the top.
First the contention is that Albert Haynesworth, he of 350 pounds plus and questionable work ethic, is going to come here and play defensive end? Really?!
Maybe Roy hasn't noticed but we play a get up the field, zone blitzing defense predicated on everyone hauling ass to the ball. And yeah, on occasion, you might even have to drop into coverage.
What in that description fits Haynesworth's profile?
Yeah he can play end in a 3-4 because its a totally different animal and involves a lot of two gapping and very little in the way of having to actually speed rush on an offensive tackle. And Haynesworth has never played defensive end on any kind of regular basis his entire career.
And lets think on this one. The Bucs let Chris Hovan, a GREAT locker room guy, go because he made too much money for his level of production and because of his age. Well Haynesworth wasn't much better last year in terms of production, he's a terrible locker room guy, and he's also no spring chicken going into his 9th season. And don't forget the money he is still owed on that huge free agent contract will have to be paid by the Bucs if they trade for him. And Cummings can say what he wants, the Bucs only allowed the fans to come to one week of training camp because of cost concerns AND they still refuse to sign a veteran backup quarterback even though Josh Freeman is hurt.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
And seeing as how the fact remains that even if Haynesworth was to come in here with a cape on and be super defensive end guy we probably wouldn't be contending for the playoffs, what exactly would be the motivation to bring him in? So he could poison the rest of our young defensive line with his me first attitude?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not even just talking about the situation with Shanahan where I feel like there is a helluva lot of blame to go around. I'm saying try to google an article where a teammate had good things to say about Haynesworth as a leader. You won't find it. A decent player at times? Yes. A leader though? Hell no. Its not something he has ever done but I guess maybe Mark Dominik was just joking around when he talked about how he wanted to build this team with youth and character.
So he doesn't fit scheme wise, attitude wise, or compensation wise. But hey, other than that he's PERFECT!
The best part of this imagined scenario is where we trade Michael Clayton for Haynesworth straight up. I mean right now we couldn't beg most teams to take Clayton off our hands but the Redskins are going to just give us Haynesworth for him? And then who are they going to find to play defensive line for them? Because make no mistake about it when the dust settles Haynesworth is still going to be out there starting at defensive end for the Redskins this year. Simply put because they don't have anybody else at that position with anything close to his ability.
I have to say I read this several times before even deciding to post about it because I wanted to try to see if maybe there was a hint of jest in Cummings' words. Like maybe he was just being facetious to make for good radio. But it really seems like he was dead serious. And I have to say that's very....unfortunate.
P.S. Its worth noting that after the fantastic free agent flops of Michael Clayton, Mike Nugent and now it would seem Derrick Ward, I doubt Mark Dominik regrets being beaten out for Albert Haynesworth's services last year for the numbers he was offering.
Well man, you're way more level headed than I am about the local media, and maybe you were afraid someone would take Roy seriously and felt you had to write this. But I can't imagine a single scenario where anyone thinks Roy didn't broadcast straight out of his own ass with this stuff.
ReplyDeleteReporters are so bored right now they'll say anything to sound interesting. Combined with the fact that I think Roy just plain gets it wrong 9 times out of 10... well, thanks for the thorough breakdown and debunking as per your usual standards, but man sledgehammer to kill a piss ant in my opinion. Roy is lucky to be considered crazy, I think he's just incompetent.
To me, this sounded like Roy Cummings putting on his fan hat and going "Wouldn't it be cool if we could get rid of Clayton and grab Haynesworth?"
ReplyDeleteIt makes no sense on any level, and his implication that Haynesworth would play DE only shows that he doesn't actually understand football.