ASHBURN, VA. (AP) - Day 6 of the Albert Haynesworth watch guaranteed only one thing: There will be a Day 7.
The Washington Redskins defensive lineman didn’t take the team’s conditioning test Tuesday, again because of his sore left knee. For those keeping score, there have now been three days in which Haynesworth has attempted the test and three days in which he hasn’t.
“His knee’s still bothering him,” coach Mike Shanahan said. “And when he’s ready to take that test again, he’ll take it.”
Haynesworth is not allowed to practice until he passes the test, although for the second day in a row he was on the field for the entire session watching his teammates. He put on his helmet from time to time but wasn’t wearing pads and didn’t take part in any drills.
Haynesworth failed the test the first two days, then skipped it for two days because the knee was acting up. On Monday, he started the test but had to stop before the halfway point because the knee was still irritated.
Shanahan said Haynesworth’s knee problem was not serious enough to warrant an MRI exam. Haynesworth missed two days of training camp last year to have an injection to insert fluid in same knee, a procedure he said had become routine for him in recent years to fight the wear and tear of practice.
There was one twist along the defensive line Tuesday. Phillip Daniels and Vonnie Holliday moved up from the second team to work with the starters at defensive end, lining up on either side of nose tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu. They replaced Adam Carriker and Kedric Golston, who had been working as starters since the first day of camp.
Shanahan said the switch was a routine move to give the players a chance to work against the starting offensive line.
“You can’t read too much into it,” the coach said.
The conditioning test consists of two 300-yard shuttle runs that have to be completed with only a 3 1/2 minute break in between. The player runs 25 yards at a time, back and forth for a total of 12 sprints. Linemen must complete the first shuttle in 70 seconds, the second one in 73 seconds.
Haynesworth is the only player required to take the test, a result of his boycott of the team’s offseason workouts.
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