Albert Haynesworth has had a roller coaster career here in Tennessee to say the least. He was brought in with that dreaded tag attached to his name, up side. His up side was huge.
Ever since then he has shown flashes of being great but has never played all that well consistently. He has also had some conditioning problems that have led to some nagging injuries that made him miss quite a bit of time. And, of course, there was the whole stomping issue.
Fast forward to 2007. Through 3 games, and I realize that is a very small sample, he has been nothing short of dominate. It seems that he is in the backfield on almost every play. He came into camp in the best shape of his life. The thing that scares me about this is that it is his "contract year."
So here is today's discussion questions: If you were Mike Reinfeldt would you sign Fat Albert to a long term deal?
My answer is it depends. I would not give him a long term deal with a bunch of guaranteed money because I would be afraid that once he got the deal he would get lazy again. He hasn't proven that he can motivate himself when there isn't as much on the line.
BUT I was very impressed with the way he handled himself after the face stomp. I know it was a destable act, but he never made excuses. He stood up, took his punishment, and got some help for his rage. I have a lot of respect for that. I also have a lot of respect for the talent that he has. I would give him a long term deal that had some decent guaranteed money and a ton of incentives.
That might not be something he is interested in, but that is where I would go with. You protect the franchise in case he decides to take an offseason or two off, and if he continues on his current path you have a dominant player at a decent price. I would be just fine with paying him a lot of money if he earns it.
Now it is your turn. What would you do?