Originally Posted by Gmanc711
WOOOOOOOOW.
From RI (Fletcher):
With rain falling fast, the Redskins left the field after less than 30 minutes of practice on Wednesday. Following the abbreviated practice, several players addressed Albert Haynesworth's absence, and perhaps none was as outspoken as linebacker London Fletcher, who called Haynesworth "selfish" and said the highly-compensated defensive tackle "can't be depended upon."
Fletcher is the unquestioned leader of the unit, and when he speaks, it's usually worth listening to. He didn't hold anything back when discussing Haynesworth and the defensive tackle's decision to skip the mandatory minicamp.
"I agree with the assessment that Albert has made a very selfish decision. When you play a team sport, you have to look at it and think about everybody involved in the situation. This is not golf, tennis, things like that where it's an all-about-you sport. What he's decided to do is make a decision based all about him. It's no different than his attitude and his approach to last year's defense, about wanting everything to revolve around him and him making plays. And if it didn't benefit him, he wasn't really willing to do it."
Asked if the locker room could embrace Haynesworth should he return, Fletcher said:
"Obviously, he's under contract with the Washington Redskins. From a business standpoint, I don't see them giving him $32 million and trading him or giving him away. He has the option to give the money back if he really doesn't want to be here. He could always give the money back. But once he decided to take money from this organization, he's a Washington Redskin. I say, yeah, he can come back if he shows he's willing to buy into what we're doing, if he's going to be on- board with what we're trying to do. One man is not going to stop what we're trying to accomplish this year. One man is not going to stop what we're going to accomplish this year. We've got big goals set for us this year, high aspirations. Football is going to be played with him or without him. We're going to play some good football.
Obviously, we want him to be a part of it, but he has to stop being selfish."
Fletcher said he wasn't surprised by Haynesworth's decision, given his past actions and attitudes.
"He can say what he wants to say about him not wanting to be here, wanting to be traded, things like that. There's ways he can not be a Redskin. Give the money back; I'm sure they'd take it. We'll move on without him. I want teammates who I can depend on, who I can count on, who in the fourth quarter of a situation, I know is going to be there to make a play or to do his job that the defense calls -- whether it's responsibilities holding up a lineman or penetrating a gap... I need guys I can depend on. We need people we can depend on. At the end of the day, right now, he's shown that he can't be depended upon."
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