FanHouse DanielSnyder

The Redskins made the big early splash in this year's free-agent market, inking DT Albert Haynesworth to a seven-year, $100 million contract ($41 million guaranteed). But this latest from Terry McCormick of the Nashville City Paper makes you wonder if Washington needed to pay Hayneworth even half that much:

"Tennessee's final offer to Haynesworth, according to a league source, amounted to a four-year package worth $34 million total, with about $20 million in guarantees, The City Paper learned."

Can't imagine ol' Albert had to think too long about that one.

The Jay Cutler saga is becoming increasingly painful to deal with, simply because it's even managing to overtake the NFL draft in terms of overexposed coverage.

But Redskins Insider is reporting that we might not have to wait long for a conclusion. That's because the Redskins are reportedly trying to make a deal happen for Cutler tonight.

Albert Haynesworth was involved in a Dec. 13 accident in Tennessee that resulted in another driver suffering serious injuries after the Redskins' newest defensive tackle attempted to pass another driver, resulting in a collision with the concrete median.

And now Haynesworth has been indicted by a grand jury in Tennessee on two misdemeanor traffic charges: one for reckless driving and one for having an expired registration.

The Tennessee Titans believe that the Washington Redskins broke the NFL's tampering rules in their signing of Albert Haynesworth, and now the only question is whether they can prove it to Commissioner Roger Goodell.

I honestly believe that most Redskins fans don't really know what they think about Jim Zorn. I know I don't. He was a total surprise as the hire for the head coaching position. His first NFL game was horrible, but he then led his team to a 6-2 mark. Since then, Washington has lost four of five and are spiraling out of control.

He can be blamed for the playcalling, blamed for being in over his head, blamed for his brash style and blamed for not being Joe Gibbs.

The recent tift with Clinton Portis has rubbed many the wrong way. This marks the second time that Portis has publicly complained about Zorn. Zorn needs to watch it. Portis is a fan favorite and the biggest Redskins fan there is just happens to own the team. Daniel Snyder loves Clinton Portis and Zorn needs to remember that.

Not to say that a coach can't do something that isn't popular to his team if they need it. But Zorn's "benching" of Portis was very troubling. I mean, this is a guy who was one of the favorites to win the MVP award this season. I say was because his production has gone down and he's dragged the team down with him.

This isn't to say that Zorn was wrong.

Daniel Snyder owns both the Washington Redskins and the Washington radio station ESPN 980, and in a bizarre bit of corporate synergy, Snyder has hired Vinny Cerrato, who already has the title of executive vice president of football operations, to host a show on the station.

If it seems to you that Cerrato -- whose duties include all the day to day football operations of the organization -- ought to have better things to do than arguing with Fred from Fairfax, well, you're not alone. It turns out that the on-air hosts on ESPN 980 think it's ridiculous that Cerrato is joining their ranks, and even though it's likely to anger the guy who signs their paychecks, they're not afraid to say so.

Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog reports that two ESPN 980 hosts, Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin, spent a good portion of their show today ripping Cerrato for taking the radio gig instead of spending all his time trying to make the Redskins better.

You've got questions. I've got answers. If not, I'll make them up. Each Thursday at 1 p.m. EST, I answer your queries on all things related to the NFL. If you have a question, send it over to NFLMailbag@aol.com. Don't forget to include your name and location. Click here for the archives. Rock'n'roll.

I know that this feature is slated to run on Thursdays, thus making this a day late. The Thursday season opener threw things off this week, but the mailbag will be running every Thursday from here on out. I wasn't hung over and I didn't forget. OK, I was a little hung over. Anyways ...

Was it a good move for the Carolina Panthers to dump Brett Basanez, a QB who'd been with the team for some time, knew the offense, and was relatively young with some upside, and instead bring in Josh McCown, who very well may be a decent backup but shouldn't be starting in this league, whereas Basanez possibly could have one day been a starter?
- SoulCitySigma1914, Greensboro, NC

Basanez did make a solid impression entering this year after two years mostly on the Panthers' practice squad, enough that a few teams gave him a look when the Panthers released him. That being said, the Panthers have a "project" quarterback that they like in Matt Moore, and they want to win now. Jake Delhomme is no sure thing, performance- or health-wise, so the Panthers probably wanted a backup with game experience who could come in if needed without disturbing too much. Basanez isn't that guy. Neither is Moore. Plus, I have to say, I've always liked McCown. Though four teams disagree. But what do they know? One of them was the Raiders ...

We all know that Jason Taylor, Bill Parcells and Daniel Snyder are very happy about the deal that sent Taylor from Miami to Washington.

But what about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones?

He should care because his former head coach (Parcells) who has been busy hiring away former Cowboys as players, coaches and front office personnel just sent the 2006 Defensive Player of the Year to Jones' biggest rival.

Interesting.

As many of you know, Parcells exit from Dallas wasn't a heartbreaker for Jones (or Terrell Owens, for that matter). Despite that, it seems as if they have worked together just fine as colleagues of sorts since Miami's new GM and head coach were with Dallas last year. Also, the two teams made a trade before the draft.

Still, it has to sting for Jones to see Parcells send Taylor to the Redskins for only a 2nd and 6th round pick -- especially since the Skins were desperate after two defensive ends went down in practice. Washington may not be an elite team, but they are strong enough to be in the postseason again and could give the Cowboys some trouble in their two meetings.

Now Washington, who lacked a decent pass rush, just got a guy that gave Tom Brady fits.

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, perhaps more than any other professional sports owner, likes to control the way his team is covered. That's true in small ways, like the team looking to hire a blogger, and in big ways, like Snyder buying as many radio stations as he can.

After Snyder reached a deal yesterday to buy three local AM radio stations, Paul Farhi of the Washington Post wrote that the purchase "gives Snyder control of sports talk radio in Washington. It thus gives the owner of the most popular and closely followed sports franchise in the region ownership of the biggest broadcast outlets for commentary about his team."

Is that a good thing? One of Snyder's new employees, WTEM hosts Steve Czaban, doesn't seem to think so. Czaban said on the air yesterday, "We're being swallowed up by the big burgundy-and-gold empire."

If Redskins fans worry that they'll lose an independent voice evaluating the team, there is something they can do: Contact the FCC, which has to approve Snyder's purchase before it becomes official. Barring some kind of FCC action, Snyder is about to be signing the checks of the people who talk about his team on the radio.

The Redskins' decision to cut wide receiver Brandon Lloyd was a decision they had to make, as Lloyd was one of the most overpaid, underachieving players in the NFL.

But while Lloyd won't drop any more passes or disrupt any more practices in Washington, he's not done hurting the Redskins. Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post reports that the Redskins have designated Lloyd as a June 1 cut for salary cap purposes, which means that Lloyd will count $5.5 million in dead cap space for the Redskins in 2009.

It's a reminder how costly the Redskins' decision to trade third- and fourth-round draft picks for him and give him a new contract with a $10 million signing bonus was. Lloyd has talent, but that talent doesn't translate into on-field results to anywhere near the extent necessary to justify such a huge contract. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is done paying Lloyd, but he isn't done paying the price for signing him.