FOXBOROUGH, MASS. (AP) - New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s early assessment of new acquisition Albert Haynesworth is positive.
Then again, it’s only been one practice.
“Albert has worked hard. I think that it’s coming,” Belichick said Tuesday. “We’ve got a long way to go, so just take it day-by-day, but I think he’s doing fine.”
Haynesworth practiced with the Patriots for the first time on Sunday. The team had Monday off, but was back on the practice field Tuesday.
New England picked up Haynesworth in a trade with the Redskins last week. He had a tumultuous season in Washington last year, starting with a prolonged delay at the beginning of training camp when he needed 10 days to pass his conditioning test. He also feuded with coach Mike Shanahan throughout the season and has had a number of legal troubles.
But he can still dominate at defensive tackle and the Patriots were willing to take the risk and hope he behaves as other players with checkered pasts did after joining Belichick in New England.
“Not speaking on any particular player, but as I’ve said many times, anytime you bring a person into the organization, you have to feel comfortable doing that and that encompasses a lot of different things,” said Belichick, who would not get into specifics on Haynesworth’s previous troubles.
“In the end, you go through the process, you get any information that you can acquire through whatever those sources are. And you evaluate the player, evaluate your team, evaluate the situation, and if you decide to bring that player onto your team, then you do that with the expectations that it will work out.
“And if you don’t, then you don’t and he’s not on your team. It’s not one thing, it’s a process.”
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