[Monkeydad]

I was watching Mike Shanahan speak about Cooley this morning (it was from last evening's Redskins Nation) and it really sounded like Cooley refused to be a backup and asked to be released. They never discussed his contract from other reports.

It doesn't harm my view of Cooley as a true Redskin, it just shows how competitive he is and how hard it is for players to accept the end of their career.

It basically went like this:

Cooley: "Coach, I want to be a starter."

Shanahan (verbatim): "Chris, Fred is going to be our starter."

Cooley: "I want to start somewhere in the NFL."

Shanahan: "Then we're try to help you with that."