Things Aren't Looking Good on the Albert Haynesworth Front

by Jimmy on Jul 8, 2008 3:12 PM CDT in News

Today is July the 8th. That means that the Tennessee Titans have exactly one week to negotiate a long term deal with defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. Paul Kuharsky is reporting that Fat Albert's agent Chad Speck, and the Titans haven't spoken in weeks.

Look, I understand the risks of locking Haynesworth up long term. His work ethic has been questioned in most of the seasons since he has been here. He cannot stay healthy for a whole season,and he has had some on the field attitude problems, but the Titans simply cannot afford to not bring him back.

What are they waiting on? They have money right now under the cap so they could structure a long term deal that is front loaded so it doesn't put them in cap trouble down the road. Signing any player is a risk. The risk is a little bigger with Albert because of his past, but this team is not built to succeed withouth him. Who is going to replace him? Tony Brown? He is a servicable player, but we saw how good the middle of the offensive line was with him as the anchor. Antonio Johnson? He didn't perform in college and is coming off a major injury. Jason Jones? They aren't even sure if he is a tackle or an end.

It is time for this team to take a big step forward and that cannot be done without Haynesworth on the field. Take the plunge Mike!!

0 recs | Comment 16 comments

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Agreed. It's a risk, but sometimes you just have to like my man Hunter Thompson would say:

buy the ticket. take the ride.

by August West on Jul 8, 2008 3:39 PM CDT 0 recs

I agree that we should sign him...

but is front loading the contract the best idea? I understand your point in front loading the contract while we have the money to spend, however at the risk of sounding like Floyd Reese if we were to pay him on the back end of his contract and make it heavy on the incentives. Then maybe he would work harder to stay healthy and play more consistant

by MT TITAN-VOL on Jul 8, 2008 4:09 PM CDT 0 recs

The problem there comes when

he gets old. He is breaking down already. That is just going to get worse with age. If you backload the deal it makes it more costly to cut him later.

I do see your point about the incentives though. I just don’t think an incentive laden deal is something he is interested in. He knows he can go somewhere else and get a deal that isn’t based on incentives.

Titans Blogger at Music City Miracles

by Jimmy on Jul 8, 2008 4:23 PM CDT up 0 recs

You do realize that the cap hit...

is always based on the pro-rated signing bonus, right? So it doesn’t matter if the contract says $15MM this year and $3MM in year five or vice versa—the cap hit will be the same. S(igning bonus/years in contract)*years remaining on deal.

Yay, sports.

by MDC on Jul 12, 2008 2:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

IMO, either he's going to work hard or he isn't... you can't bribe grown men that easily.

and I agree with Jimmy that Albert has done enough to not be straddled with an incentive laden deal (those are kind of an insult to a player, or a sign they’re asking for insane figures).

by August West on Jul 8, 2008 5:13 PM CDT up 0 recs

Albert knows....

that the next contract he signs will be his last. He wants as much money up front and guaranteed as possible. I can’t say I blame him, but I’m doubting that the Titans are willing to go that route. My bet is that they see how he does this year, and if he meets expectations, then offer him a reasonable contract. Albert won’t sign that.

They may also franchise him again next year. I think that’s the best option. How many years can that big ol’ body take? My guess is not many and the Titans don’t want to tie up big money long term on a short term body.

Yes he makes the Titans tremendously bertter, but for how long? How long will those knees and ankles take the punishment of lugging that big body around? How many interior D lineman of his size last any length of time? I think the TItans are being very prudent and fiscally responsible by not giving him the bank.

I love Albert. I love his second chance turnaround season last year, but I have to be realistic. I think the Titans are also.

2 of my pennies on the table.

Big Bill "You never lose a game if the opponent doesn't score." Darell K. Royal

by Hook em Titans on Jul 8, 2008 4:26 PM CDT 0 recs

Albert has only had...

One GREAT season… and his work ethic is questionable despite his alleged new six-pack of abdominals.

From the owners perspective it is a huge risk to just throw him the money, which might allow him to be lazy again.

I think Haynesworth should be franchised this year, and if he lives up to expectations, franchised again.

He’s far too immature to be handed 70 million dollars and be expected to continue trying hard.

As for incentive-laden contracts, that is clearly the way to go… but there are too many precedents out there of players getting all the guaranteed $$$ and Speck won’t allow it.

by BeansCarter on Jul 8, 2008 5:07 PM CDT 0 recs

Albert has benn much. much better than the numbers show

he’s always been a terror in the backfield and required double teams since Kearse left… I think he’s grown up a lot in the past few years as a player and a man.

If he plays balls out until he’s 30 (pretty realistic unless something crazy happens), and falls off early after that, he’ll still probably earn whatever we end up paying him.

by August West on Jul 8, 2008 5:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

Albert is

27 now, though. How long to DTs normally last – anybody know? I wouldn’t be upset at all if they signed him to a long term contract for a reasonable amount of money, I just don’t think that’s gonna happen, and I don’t want to see them lock him up for five years for a “bet DT in the NFL” style megabucks deal for the same reasons beans cited. The body of work vs. the risk (injury and behavior) doesn’t justify it.

Any awesome DTs coming up next year in the draft? We might be lookin’ for one the way this is shaping up. Hope we can keep him, cause I do suspect he’s turned a corner in terms of maturity and is going to be a force again next year – but I don’t think anything more than a one year deal is gonna happen.

by numbertenox on Jul 8, 2008 11:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

mostly agree

Albert was awesome last year. If he was asking reasonable number they would almost certainly have signed him to a new long term contract. They haven’t, which means they are probably asking for pay based on his performance from that “one GREAT season”. Albert has had so many issues that I don’t know that it is very responsible to pay him megabucks guaranteed money on a new long term contract based off of last season.

I’m a backer of the deal to franchise him this year but agree not to do it next year…

by numbertenox on Jul 8, 2008 7:34 PM CDT up 0 recs

Bad thing for the Titans

is that Headstomper really seems to me like a guy that will be a shell of himself in about 2 or 3 years. He’s great now, but the Titans would probably end up losing a good amount of cash if they signed him for a really long term deal. Losing him this real would definitely hurt the D big time short term, but there really doesn’t seem to be a reachable “win-win” between the team and the Headstomper.

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by MrNFL on Jul 8, 2008 8:36 PM CDT 0 recs

Win-win is ok

but the Titans prefer win-win-win.

Name that show..

Titans Blogger at Music City Miracles

by Jimmy on Jul 9, 2008 8:04 AM CDT up 0 recs

The Office!

so do I win that creepy ‘babies playing instruments’ poster?

by August West on Jul 9, 2008 8:18 AM CDT up 0 recs

If you know the Office, then you should know this one:

Affirmative action was designed to keep women and minorities in competition with each other to distract us while white dudes inject AIDS into our chicken nuggets… That’s a metaphor!!

by August West on Jul 9, 2008 8:28 AM CDT up 0 recs

Sweet Spot -

5 years, 47MIL Guaranteed – this is the contract that I think he will sign. If not, franchise him again. If he is upset, let him seek a trade and we’ll get a first & third round pick for him, becuase of the tag.

by TrenchantTitan on Jul 9, 2008 10:17 AM CDT 0 recs

I hate this situation.

I really believe that the franchise tag was the right move for this year, to see if he can have the same kind of season he had last year twice in a row. If he does, then hand him a big deal next year.

The problem seems to be that Albert doesn’t like that idea, and will probably seek out a new team if this happens.

It’s a no-win. If we sign him to a huge deal now, he may become lazy. If we don’t sign him to a huge deal now, he’s going to leave in free agency at the end of the season to a team that is willing to overpay by a frightening amount, including giving up picks if we franchise him again.

And those teams are out there. I could see a few different teams that will throw fat sacks of cash Al’s way if he isn’t locked up long-term by the end of this year.

by hartley on Jul 9, 2008 10:58 AM CDT 0 recs