FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Randy Moss and Corey Dillon were malcontents when they joined the New England Patriots. Rodney Harrison arrived with a reputation as a dirty, washed-up player.
All of them fit in very well with their new team.
Now Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco are coming and the “Patriot Way” will be tested once again.
After a season-long feud with Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, the 335-pound Haynesworth was traded to the Patriots on Thursday for a fifth-round draft choice in 2013. Haynesworth will team with Vince Wilfork to give New England a formidable defensive line.
Later Thursday, the Patriots obtained Ochocinco from the Cincinnati Bengals and gave the receiver a new three-year contract. It was not known what the Bengals received.
The outspoken Ochocinco and reticent Patriots coach Bill Belichick have opposite public images. But they have developed a friendship, in part from interacting at Pro Bowl practices.
“I like Chad,” Belichick said before last year’s season opener between the teams. “An odd couple, but in the end I think we have a lot of things in common.”
Ochocinco returned the compliment: “He became a friend of mine. He has a lot of respect for me in my game and I have a lot of respect for him in everything he’s done as a coach.”
Two defensive linemen who could be starting alongside Haynesworth in the 3-4 defense — the alignment that helped fuel Haynesworth’s discontent with Shanahan — think he’ll adjust to the players’ unselfish approach.
“You can see that Albert wasn’t really happy in his situation,” end Ty Warren said after the Patriots’ first practice of training camp, but “all you see is what goes on (from) the outside and sometimes that’s only half of the truth. So I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, with the structure of this locker room, the guys that’s in this locker room.”
Wilfork, primarily a nose tackle, saw the most action at defensive end of his seven-year career last season. Playing next to Haynesworth, the 325-pounder could spend even more time on the outside.
“It’s always team first. That’s the Patriot Way. If you can’t put the team first, you won’t be here,” said Wilfork, a three-time Pro Bowler.
Any new Patriots player with a checkered past, on or off the field, “will see how we do things around here, point blank,” he added. “We had guys come through here with a rap sheet and (people) say, ‘He can’t be handled. This guy can’t do this,’ and you know what, it worked out fine for us. So I don’t think it will be a big problem.”
Haynesworth’s troubles extend beyond the field. He is scheduled for trial Aug. 23 on a misdemeanor sexual-abuse charge.
