The first practice with his new team provided Albert Haynesworth with few chances to do anything. That time won’t come for several months, when the pads come on, the games draw closer and the practices more intense.
For now, everything is left to the imagination, picturing what he might be like and what he might do.
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There was a distinct first impression, however.
“He’s huge,” running back Clinton Portis said.
“He got a big push up the middle and almost ran me over,” quarterback Jason Campbell said. “I didn’t say anything. I had to look up for a second and, ‘Oh, that’s the jolly green giant.’ I’ll leave him alone for the first day.”
Haynesworth was the Redskins’ biggest offseason acquisition, signing a contract with $41 million guaranteed. He provides Washington with a playmaker up front, something it has lacked for a number of seasons.
“He’s just a big load,” Redskins coach Jim Zorn said.
In Tennessee, Haynesworth was allowed to freelance a little more up front than what Washington has wanted its linemen to do. He also plays more effective when just shooting one gap rather than trying to worry about two. Haynesworth said the coaches have told him they’ll incorporate some of what he did in Tennessee into this scheme.
“He’ll do the same thing for us that he did in Tennessee,” Zorn said. “He’s gonna get into the backfield and he’ll push on double teams. One of the things a guy like that does when he creates that much of a problem is you have to be on him with a couple guys. There will be times where everyone will go, ‘Where’s Albert?’ But he’ll be doing what we’re asking him to do.”
Haynesworth had his own first impression.
“Here I’m not the only big guy on the team,” he said. “We’ve got Phillip Daniels; that guy is huge. And [Cornelius] Griffin and [Anthony Montgomery]. We’ve got a lot of big guys and we all can move. You’ll see a lot of different stuff from us. You’ll see us in the backfield more, freeing up the linebackers and making a lot of plays.
“We have big ends and fast ends. We’ve got everything. In Tennessee we had fast ends who turned the corner. Here we have big ends, fast ends, quick tackles, big tackles. We can do it all and adjust to what the team we’re playing with and be effective.”
The Redskins hope there aren’t any problems in camp stemming from his court review on June 8 in Tennessee, a result of a December car accident that occurred while he was on probation. He faces up to seven months in jail.
“I’m not worried about it,” Haynesworth said. “I have to get better on the field and I’ll let my lawyer and agent take care of that.”
And he’s not about to worry about playing up to his contract.
“It’s not about how much money I make,” he said. “I don’t look at checks when I’m playing. That has nothing to do with it.”
