Albert Haynesworth's time in New England was forgettable. He was traded to the Patriots for a fifth-round pick in the summer of 2011 as a potential complement to defensive linemen Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren, but he lasted just over three months with the team before receiving his release.
The famously hot-headed 6-foot-6, 350-pound 30-year-old was signed by the Buccaneers soon thereafter, but he was let go in February of 2012 -- after the Patriots made it to Super Bowl XLVI without him -- and has been out of the game ever since.
Haynesworth's time with the Patriots may have been his last best chance to re-write his career's trajectory, but by the time he arrived in Foxboro he was far from the player who had signed for $100 million with the Redskins after solidifying himself as one of the game's best -- and perhaps most mercurial -- at his position.
By his own admission, Haynesworth had lost his passion for the game long before his arrival to Focboro.
Haynesworth's wrote a letter to his younger self for Derek Jeter's website The Players' Tribune on Monday that recapped all the mistakes he had made with his career: He should have taken less money and stayed in Tennessee where the scheme suited him better, he admitted; he should never have signed with Mike Shanahan's Redskins to play in their 3-4 defense; he should have never trusted his money with a psychologist he met in college.
There is no mention of Haynesworth's time with coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady, Wilfork or anyone else associated with the Patriots. Maybe, as he looks back on his career, he sees the early part of the 2011 season as an unimportant blip. Given his mindset and his waning physical ability, it may have been a relationship that was doomed from the start. But when he agreed with the Patriots on a deal, it was hard not to think of Haynesworth as the latest in a line of Patriots -- joining Rodney Harrison, Corey Dillon and Randy Moss -- who looked to resurrect their careers and rehab their images in New England.
Haynesworth is now restoring houses and investing in property in his home state of South Carolina.