Haynesworth agreed to terms Friday morning, drove three hours from his home in East Tennessee and signed his $7.25 million tender. While his teammates took part in the first practice of training camp, he passed his physical, then talked to reporters in the locker room.
"I'm making $7.2 million. That's a lot of money. I don't care how you cut it. I'm happy they're giving it to me, and we'll see what happens next year," Haynesworth said with a smile.
With Haynesworth's deal, only first-round draft pick Chris Johnson, the 24th pick overall, remained unsigned.
Publicly, negotiations have been very cordial between Haynesworth and the Titans. Haynesworth said the incentives are evenly split between individual and team achievements, while general manager Mike Reinfeldt said they were willing to make concessions to have the six-year veteran in camp on time.
"Training camp is important for Albert, it's important for the Titans. We did things consistent with what we were willing to do before. We put in certain parameters, certain benchmarks that if he plays at the level he played at, the team does certain things, there's an opportunity we won't tag him next year," Reinfeldt said.
Haynesworth posted a career-high six sacks in 2007 and played so well that he was being considered as a top candidate for the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-6 Haynesworth collapsed offensive lines, often drawing double-teams that freed up teammates to chase the quarterback.
But he strained a hamstring chasing David Carr on Nov. 4, a game during which he posted three sacks. He missed three games before returning, but Haynesworth wasn't the same player down the stretch.
Linebacker Keith Bulluck was happy to hear Haynesworth had signed his tender and was in camp. He pointed out the Titans had the NFL's fifth-best defense with the tackle last year.
"Definitely helps our defense," Bulluck said.
Neither Haynesworth nor Reinfeldt are willing to concede that this is the tackle's last year in Tennessee either. Reinfeldt listed running back Shaun Alexander and linebacker Lance Briggs as players franchised by teams who later signed long-term deals to stick around. Reinfeldt said there is the worry that Haynesworth could reach the incentives and earn free agency.
