Albert Haynesworth pleaded no contest to simple assault Monday rather than stand trial for misdemeanor sexual abuse after being charged with fondling a waitress at the W hotel in February. According to reports, the terms of the plea deal require Haynesworth to perform 160 hours of community service, stay out of trouble and stay away from the victim.
Yeah, that will work.
I wonder whether the 160 hours of community service include just being in uniform and taking the field for practice.
Haynesworth — the Redskins’ former $100 million oozing wound — is now the New England Patriots’ problem, traded by Washington at the end of July for a 2013 fifth-round draft pick.
The plea bargain is certainly good news for the Patriots, who feared Haynesworth’s trial might interfere with whatever it is that he is doing these days for the Patriots.
It isn’t practicing. Haynesworth reportedly has not practiced with the Patriots since Aug. 3, just a few days after he joined the team, supposedly dealing with a knee issue.
New England coach Bill Belichick doesn’t seem particularly troubled by this. Belichick told a Boston radio station recently he thinks Haynesworth is a prince of a fellow.
“I think Albert has been great since he’s been here,” Belichick told WEEI recently. “He’s worked hard. He’s done more than really what we’ve asked him to do. He’s put in a lot of extra time and a lot of extra effort to get back on the field, to study, to catch up on things from a playbook standpoint that he’s a little behind on.”
None of this, of course, can possibly be true. Haynesworth is not working hard. He is not putting in a lot of extra time and extra effort.
Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett exposed Haynesworth this winter in an interview with ESPN 101 radio in St. Louis. “It got to the point where he said, ‘I don’t want to play first- and second-down nickel. I just want to play third-down nickel,’?” Haslett said. “Oh my God, you’re relegating yourself to 10 to 15 snaps a game. Then after that he didn’t want to do the blitzes. He just wanted to rush.”
Supposedly, Belichick is OK with this. All he wants from Haynesworth is to be ready for a few plays this season in a few games — the New York Jets in particular. He doesn’t particularly care about getting anything else out of him.
But there is no reason to believe that Haynesworth will be ready when Belichick needs him to be — unless he needs the community service hours.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
