Haynesworth to the Patriots for a 5th rounder.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I still believe that the Redskins could and should have gotten an elite player out of an elite player. And my big point was: that the Redskins clearly agreed with you about Haynesworth. That's why they didn't let him got to Philly and come and dominate us twice a year for the next two years.

It's just all very disappointing in the end. I think saying we had nothing in Haynesworth is true in the nominal sense, but the Redskins have no one to blame but themselves from that. Unfortunately, "themselves" starts with Cerrato/Zorn/Sherm Smith, and finished with Shanahan/Allen/Haslett. Lots of people to blame for this trade, every one of them part of the Redskins coaching staff or management.

Haynesworth is responsible for being despised by his Redskin teammates, but that shouldn't have affected his trade value much.

I don't think you'll find much disagreement that this saga ended on a bad note and that it would have been much more preferable that we received an elite player in exchange for Haynesworth. When Haynesworth arrived in Washington D.C. he was an elite player. The player that New England is not an elite player. There's no way you or anyone else can convince me of that.

But...

I lay the blame at the feet of Mike Shanahan. His mismanagement of the situation devalued Haynesworth's worth and caused his stock to plummet around the league. Had we cut ties with AH much earlier, I think we could have possibly gotten a second or third rounder in return. The longer this dragged out, the less we could command in return. That along with the optics of Hayneworth flailing on the ground during the Philly game while Mike Vick made swiss cheese of our defense and getting suspended didn't help matters all.

Under the circumstances, a 5th rounder is the best we could have hoped for. The genius of Belichick is knowing when to buy and knowing when to sell. He's better than a day trader that has perfected market movements.