4 Scenarios Where Albert Haynesworth Could Escape Washington and Thrive

Before free agency opened up two seasons ago, many columnists, radio hosts and folks at the four letter network cautioned teams about giving Albert Haynesworth a lot of guaranteed money.

Their thoughts were that Haynesworth is not a self motivator and his off the charts season of 2008 was motivated because he was in the last year of his contract and wanted to get paid.

They figured once he got his money that he'd be complacent and not the force that he was in 2008.

Well, Washington Redskins' owner Dan Snyder felt he knew better than the countless people saying to steer clear of Haynesworth and made Albert the $100 million man.

Haynesworth took the money and did squat with it.

He complained through out the 2009 season about Greg Blatche's defensive scheme and that he wasn't being used right in it.

Then in the offseason, Jim Zorn was fired as the head coach and Mike Shanahan was brought in.

Seeing a trend of the top teams going to a 3-4 defense, Shanahan followed suit and brought in Jim Haslett to transition the Skins to a defense akin to the Steelers.

Haynesworth didn't like this and didn't show up to OTAs last year and was relatively a pain in the butt for the entire 2010 season.

With all of the drama that comes with Haynesworth, Shanahan won't release him so he can sign where ever.

I'm sure the Skins will trade him at some point, so I now present you with the four best options for the Redskins as well as for Haynesworth.

Tennessee Titans

Outside of D.C., Haynesworth has only called one other NFL city home and that's Tennessee. 

The Titans were reportedly trying to trade for him last season before the deadline but something happened to muck up the trade.

No one really knows who would be at fault there. Maybe the Redskins wanted too much, maybe the Titans offered too little, maybe the Redskins didn't want to have to play him a couple of weeks later when they team made the trip down to Tennessee.

Either way, the trade didn't happen and we were still left talking about how much we disliked Haynesworth.

However, once the lockout ends and the offseason begins, there is new hope that Haynesworth could be shipped back down south.

The Titans are still reportedly interested in obtaining Haynesworth and the Skins are interested in unloading him.

The Titans would be a perfect fit for Haynesworth. He's known success there and seems to like it there since he still resides there in the offseason.

So maybe the best bet for the Skins and Titans is to just send him home.

Indianapolis Colts

Something that might also light a fire under Haynesworth is sending him to the Titans' AFC South rival. the Indianapolis Colts.

There he could play his old team twice a year and show them why they should have competed with the Redskins to sign him two years ago.

Also the Colts have great leadership within their locker-room and the players wouldn't put up with Haynesworth's crap for very long.

He'd be back in a 4-3 defense and out of Washington and away from Mike Shanahan.

All of those factors point to Haynesworth being happy, for a little bit at least.

Minnesota Vikings

Up in Minnesota they have a pretty devastating defensive tackle in Pat Williams.

However, there are two minor problems with Williams this season.

First, he's turning 39 this season, in football years thats pretty old, but when you factor in his size that's really old.

Second, he's an unrestricted free agent this year and might be looking to pick up one last pay day before he retires.

It doesn't appear that the Vikings want to pay too much money for their aging tackle and might let him test the free agent market.

If they do, they might need a new tackle to reek havoc on the NFC North.

This is where the Redskins should try to work out a deal to send both Haynesworth and quarterback Donovan McNabb to the Vikings.

The Skins could pick up a pretty high pick for the pair and the Vikings would nab a destructive tackle that should thrive against the weak offensive lines of the Packers, Bears and Lions.

New head coach Leslie Frazier could easily plug in Haynesworth and not miss Williams at all. Also, McNabb could start for the next couple of seasons while Christian Ponder understudies.

New Orleans Saints

The only reason why the Redskins should have even consided signing Albert Haynesworth would have been if they would have done the smart thing a year before and promoted Greg Williams to head coach after Joe Gibbs retired.

Haynesworth is perfect for Williams' blitz happy defense because both men have the same goal, and that is to kill the quarterback.

Not to mention Williams' strong personality, he would have reined Haynesworth in quickly and not allowed him to get his way, unlike Jim Zorn who seemed to have little control over the Redskins.

The Skins could try to get a pick or two from the Saints or work out a deal to acquire a certain change of pace running back. That may or may not have been given permission to shop for a trade.

Conclusion

There you have it fans, four teams the Redskins could trade Haynesworth to where all three involved (Skins, Haynesworth and new team) would all benefit from.

In fact, if Haynesworth hadn't gotten into all that legal trouble this offseason, I'm sure we'd hear more from these teams about being interested in acquiring him.

With all that aside though, I wouldn't be shocked at all if one of these (if not three or all four) teams comes forward to make a deal.