Patriots Waive Albert Haynesworth

Little more than three months after it happened, the Patriots — apparently reaching the limits of their desire to improve their pass rush — admitted that their low-risk, high-reward transaction gave them little reward after all. They waived Haynesworth halfway through the season, after he played in six games and made only three tackles, excising a potentially problematic symbol of lost work ethic from the locker room even as their defense continues to struggle.

The Patriots gave the Washington Redskins a fifth-round pick in 2013 for Haynesworth, a former defensive player of the year upon whom the Redskins had lavished a $100 million contract, only to find out he did not want to play nose tackle in a 3-4 defense. The Patriots hoped he would line up beside Vince Wilfork to collapse the pocket in a 4-3 alignment. But although the decision to let him go does not hamper the Patriots significantly — Ron Brace and Brandon Deaderick are on the way back — it will probably weigh heavily on Haynesworth’s career prospects.

According to Pro Football Focus, Haynesworth played only 132 snaps for the Patriots, and his brief time on the field served mostly to solidify the sense around the league that he lacks the motivation to be the dominant force he was in 2007 and 2008 for the Tennessee Titans — before he was rewarded as a free agent by the Redskins and virtually disappeared. Upon his arrival in New England, Haynesworth called the trade career saving and at one point said he would not play elsewhere if it did not work out with the Patriots.

The final straw in New England came Sunday, when Haynesworth was benched in the second half of the Patriots’ loss to the Giants and engaged in an animated sideline argument with the defensive line coach Pepper Johnson. Coach Bill Belichick said Haynesworth was not on the field because that was how the rotation worked out.