Arrington rips Haynesworth

Former Washington Redskins linebacker Lavar Arrington had some choice words recently for current Redskin Albert Haynesworth. It’s well known that Haynesworth rubs some people the wrong way, and his recent decision to skip voluntary workouts (after showing up the first day) to workout on his own with his personal trainer, most certainly rubbed Arrington the wrong way.

It’s right here:

“First and foremost, you’re coming off of a 4-12 season,” Arrington began, in a normal speaking voice. “You — speaking of you, Albert Haynesworth — were supposed to be the key cog in resurrecting a team that should have been playoff bound when they brought you here. That was what the huge contract was for, that was what all the hoopla was about….

“And what I would tell him is, if your legacy and if your reputation means the world to you, if your family name, if your teammates mean the world to you, then you don’t need to hear Mike Shanahan say I disagree with you going with your guy to go train. You don’t have to hear that…..

“This is a red flag, Albert. This is a red flag. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem. I understand, listen, I ain’t trying to be in your pocket. I’ll be the last one to try to be in your pocket. But if you’re saying you want to work out and do this heavy stuff with your guy, bring him here. Bring him here.

“And you know what, as a leader, you don’t want to be a nose guard? How about you bring your whole defensive line with you, and y’all train together, and see if somebody emerges out of that whole crew that can be that dog in the middle as a nose tackle. How about you have every last one of those defensive linemen with you, Albert. How about they come with you. Let me watch how you work, let me see the things that you do, let me see what made you the man that had to be brought here at the price tag that you were brought here for. Let me see that, before we even put a shell, a pad or a helmet on, let me see that….

“And we talk about this all the time, Chad: something called accountability becomes a part of you. It is a bond between your players, your teammates, your coaches, everyone, from the person who lays out your uniform on Sundays, to the person who picks it up after, to the person you go to war with on Sunday. If you had more accountability, you wouldn’t be laying yourself down on the ground like you did during the course of the season last year. If you had more accountability you would have came in ready, where you would have got up.

“But you know what? I’m not even gonna focus on that. That’s not even worth focusing on. That’s in the past. What are you going to do to be that warrior that leads by example for the future, for the present, right here and now? What are you going to do right now? What are you doing to make the Washington Redskins better now. Unfortunately, we will never know, because we won’t see you here, your teammates won’t see you here.

“When I pass out on the floor after working out so hard to get ready for this season, you did not see me pass out, nor did you put your hand out to help me out when I was done, or vice versa. Your personal trainer did. Well, last time I checked, personal trainers don’t suit up and go on the field with you. Last time I checked. Personal trainer my assets. Personal trainer? Bring him here.

“You do your time and you establish what you did not establish last year. It’s not enough to come out at the end of the season — and you’re working on having four wins — it’s not enough to come out and say, ‘Well, we need some more accountability around here, well, we need some better coaching, well, we need to do things differently. You did not pay the price enough to come out of your face and say that. You did not earn enough respect.

[At this point, Arrington's volume is getting pretty high]

“If London Fletcher said what Albert Haynesworth said, it would have been received and it would have been filed and documented. Why? Because that man paid the price. Why does his name not come up for leaving and going to work out with somebody on his own. Why doesn’t Rocky McIntosh’s name come up. Why haven’t we heard Brian Orakpo’s name come up? And he’s a baby. God forbid, you have to have a baby lead your team.

“And you’re supposed to be one of the workout warriors, you’re supposed to be one of the game-day warriors, you’re supposed to be a warrior for this team, and you say I won’t even be here? But yet when you come back and it’s time to go to war and it’s time to go to work, you’ll look at them and they’ll look at you and on game day. You’re supposed to trust each other enough to go out there and win a game. Four and 12. Four and 12.

“And need I add, your accolades aren’t that good for you to act the way you’re acting. I’ve looked at your highlights, I’ve looked at your Wikipedia page. You don’t have enough on there to act this way. Sorry….You’re not where you need to be. You’re not. You’re not. And you need to realize that and you need to humble yourself before you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have the opportunity.

“Right now you have the opportunity to right what you’re doing. Right now you have the opportunity to take the bull by the horns and be what it is that you need to be, and not for anybody else other than for yourself and for your teammates. Not for anything else other than that. But it’s time out for falling out. It’s time out for getting carted off a field. I ain’t never seen somebody get carted off a field and come back and play. That’s not heroic. Nobody’s looking at you like, ‘What a hero!’ Nobody’s looking at you that way. They’re looking at you like you a lazy A-cat that had to get carted off the field.

“Who knows what they did for you while you was in the locker room, gave you some oxygen or something like that so you could come back out and play. Nobody looked at it as heroic, and you need to know it, and maybe the people around you aren’t telling you that, but somebody needs to say it to you. Because if you don’t stop that, all’s you will be known as is the guy that came to Washington and was a part of a long list of free agents that came here, took money, did nothing, and left. If that’s what you want your legacy to be, by all means, let that be your legacy.

“But if you want to do something that is constructive and that is going to make this team what it needs to be, at the end of the day, you need to come on back. And you need to say, ‘You know what, I am here to work, and I’m here to work with my team, and I’m here to work with my coaches, and we’re gonna get better.”