Since 100 million dollar man Albert Haynesworth decided not to attend the team’s offseason training activities Shanahan has required Haynesworth to pass a conditioning test before he rejoins the team in Ashburn, Virginia for training camp.

Haynesworth was unable to complete his training test on three consecutive attempts over three days and his new coach is not giving him any breaks for effort.

The training test that Haynesworth must complete requires being fit for football and swift enough to compete. There are two drill exercises with a break in between.

The drill is actually two 300 yard shuttles. The first rep has to be in 70 seconds or better. After a three and a half minute stop, the player runs the second rep - that position, O-line/D-line - would have to be run in 73 seconds. To beat those times in both parts would be the end of a passing test.

The completion of the first part will normally exhaust a player enough to struggle on the second if they were not in game shape, but Shanahan exhorts that the test is basically the same thing all the players in camp do in the course of each day they are on the field.

Haynesworth did well on his first attempt completing his part one in under the mandatory seventy seconds. However the bathroom break went too long before the second part was underway so Redskins trainers required him to start over, and threw away his part one result.

He was unable to complete the segment that day.

On day two of Redskins camp Haynesworth was allowed to test again. This time he scored the first part in 71 seconds. That was one second slower than the mandatory seventy.

The result, the Skins told him to come back the next day – failed again. There was nobody allowed to give him a pass because he was so close.

On day three Haynesworth reported to camp but was not allowed to reattempt the conditioning drill because of a slightly swollen knee, and his strength coach told him to go home and rest another day.

Three strikes and try again the next day. He will eventually pass the drill and be allowed into camp, but there will be no breaks for even the stars in Washington this summer as could be expected with the arrival of a hardnosed head coach.

Haynesworth is the only player that was being asked to do conditioning drills to qualify to attend camp, and the only reason given by Shanahan was that those other players all did this sort of thing in the offseason when Haynesworth was a no-show.

Other players have told the reporters assigned to the team that Shanahan is singling out Haynesworth now because this is how he wants to establish authority over his team.

Teammates and players around the NFL routinely criticized Haynesworth in June when he skipped minicamp less than three months after accepting a $21 million bonus. But he showed up about 30 pounds lighter to camp, and even by Shanahan's own admission is in decent shape.

As a background to this story it would be good to know that in the 2009 offseason Haynesworth signed one of the richest NFL deals ever for a defensive player. He earned a $100 million dollar, seven year contract significantly frontloaded so that he would take home about $32 million at the end of the first year. A significant portion of Haynesworth’s Washington contract is guaranteed money. If he reaches all the incentive in the contract he will make $115 million.

Haynesworth says he had an offer to go to a team for $120 million but he chose the discount because he wanted to play in a big football market with more fans and media.

People speculated that the reason for Haynesworth for not participating in the offseason was that the player was not happy with the hire of Shanahan who will convert a 4-3 defence to a 3-4 style that a player like Haynesworth may struggle to fit. It appeared that maybe the player and his agent were trying to get moved to another team. They were still quick to take the $21 million though which should have obligated him to play for Washington this year.

It would have been hard to move that contract elsewhere. The Detroit Lions were interested back in April but balked at the $21 million bonus.

Washington has always attracted players that have come for big money but failed to produce. It was no surprise that the country club atmosphere would disappear fast under Shanahan’s guidance.

Training camp is a time for the Redskins to embrace that change and clean the closets of lazy players, floating players, attitudes, and anyone not committed to trying hard to win every game.

Shanahan probably has taken a particularly heavy hand to Haynesworth because he is a player that has already defied instruction. For that type of player there probably should not be a free second to get him over the hump.

The message in DC is loud and clear so far. Nobody, regardless of their status or contract will get a free ride this August and they will probably be accountable in the season to compete hard and be ready to compete at every practice, scrimmage, and game.

Shanahan is not getting into arguments with players. He also is not answering media questions about Haynesworth, and apparently is not even working with Haynesworth having left that to the conditioning staff.

Shanahan told the media he will only talk about players who are in camp and qualified to get ready for the season which so far Haynesworth has not.

For media at Redskins training camp everything is much more businesslike with Shanahan and his coaching staff.

There is no more loud music and many amenities are missing from field side that might be there for most teams.

Players do way more work during outings, but not much showcasing and fancy drills.

Shanahan has started by changing more than just plays, but the mentality of DC football – probably to something not seen in that city for some time. Its old style tough football, and even the most spoiled of millionaire players who whine and sometimes cry about changing schemes will need to do the work to survive it.

This is what many old school coaches used to do, but so many lack the guts to do with today’s players.

In Washington, aside from Haynesworth and maybe veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb who has led a team to the Superbowl, what players have any reason to brag and lay back on their laurels?

None do.

The expectations there are always high, and Shanahan is not only implementing his own decor of respect for coach and organization, and being true to the game, but he wants the players there to not remember the way it was.

They are only to live in the present and with the new way of preparing and playing. All that had happened, and there was not much great lately is better forgotten and everyone needs to focus on the winning ahead.

If they can’t sacrifice that much they probably are not welcome on the Redskins.

This is not much different than the message Bill Belichick began the New England Patriots camp with this summer when he removed pictures and memorabilia that commemorated the recent Patriots championships from the facility.

Some of those pictures were of players still on the team, but nonetheless Belichick is trying to let the players realize that they are a different team now and they need to also forget about all that “winning” – its past – and concentrate on what they have to do to be successful today.

This may be a much harder thing to accomplish in New England than in Washington for a few reasons.

For the record only Tom Brady, Matt Light and Kevin Faulk are left as active players from the squads that won three titles, and only 17 players remain from the team that lost the 2008 Super Bowl.