One day, shortly before his first and only draft in Washington, then-coach Marty Schottenheimer recalled his final season in Kansas City, marred by lots of penalties, bad characters and a losing record.
He admitted he rolled the dice too often, taking on too many players of questionable character. And he vowed not to repeat that mistake.
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Which brings us to the 2009 Redskins, who have become a second-chance team. More accurately for some, they represent a last chance.
In some cases it’s about character: Albert Haynesworth has his own set of issues, ranging from stomping on a player in a game to driving incidents. Mike Williams weighed 410 pounds when Washington signed him and he hasn’t played in three years. They signed offensive lineman Jeremy Bridges earlier this week, who has his own arrest record.
They drafted a linebacker who lied about why he had been suspended. They signed a rookie free agent who had been suspended for his senior season for taking a banned substance. It’s not a roster full of bad guys by any means; but there are some where they’ll have to cross their fingers.
“It’s very difficult to judge a guy when we weren’t there at the time,” coach Jim Zorn said. “Guys do make poor judgments and some mature more than others. I put it to some of these guys that this is their next chance and they never know when it’s going to be their last chance … I want to give them the opportunity to live out their desire to make things right.”
It should be noted that DeAngelo Hall signed with baggage last fall — his nickname at Virginia Tech by others was “MeAngelo.” But he hasn’t been an ounce of trouble here.
One reason the Redskins overcame the Sean Taylor tragedy was because they had a locker room of strong character. It makes a difference. They need to maintain that.
“If I had a young leaderless group I don’t know if I’d do it,” Zorn said. “But I have veteran leaders that actually will say, ‘We don’t do that.’
“I’m not naïve to think that I’m not going to have a problem, but we’ll deal with it when it happens. … Our approach is talking about doing what’s right.”