Renaldo Wynn returned to work at Redskin Park on Wednesday for the first time in nearly 2 1/2 years. Although the veteran defensive end had a feeling of deja vu, he also said his time away from the Washington Redskins changed him for the better.
Wynn was a Redskins starter from 2002 to 2005 and then became a backup in 2006 after the team signed Andre Carter. Even then, Wynn assumed he would make the roster again in 2007. So it came as a great shock when he was cut at the end of training camp.
That event, followed by a season as a reserve with the New Orleans Saints and another with the New York Giants, made Wynn a different man upon his return to Washington.
“This journey I’ve taken has been a good one and… an enlightening one,” Wynn said Wednesday, a day after signing a one-year, minimum salary deal. “It has helped me become a better player, a better person. When [I was cut], even though it hurt, it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me because it put a fire under my feet that apparently I hadn’t had for a few years. When your back’s against the wall, you really learn a lot about yourself. I got to make sure I’m on my ’A’ game every week. I can’t relax at all.”
Although Wynn has started just two games the past three years and will be 35 before the season starts, he could well be a Redskins regular thanks to the exits of veteran ends Jason Taylor and Demetric Evans and the uncertain return of Phillip Daniels, whose contract was voided last month. Other than Carter, who will start on the right side, Wynn is the only end on Washington’s roster who has started an NFL game. The Redskins are expected to use a first-day draft choice on an end who can start immediately.
“I know we’re thin at the position, but I don’t want anything given to me,” said Wynn, who predicted that his buddy Daniels eventually will re-sign and compete to start. “I want to earn it.”
Wynn returned not just wiser but also much trimmer. At 277 pounds, he’s about 20 under his average from his first Washington tenure.
Defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin, who started on the left side next to Wynn in 2004 and 2005, was happy about his old pal’s return.
“It’s great to have Renaldo back,” Griffin said. “He has a great work ethic. He knows how to play the game. He’s a great leader, not just on the field but in the locker room.”
Walking into that room for the first time since Sean Taylor’s murder in November 2007 and seeing his former teammate’s locker enclosed in glass was tough for Wynn.
“It was surreal coming back here,” Wynn said. “It brought back some memories of [dressing] next to Sean. So in a way, I’m glad that I’m on the other side of the locker room. It’s kind of like a fresh start.”
Not that Wynn is really starting anew. Defensive coordinator Greg Blache was his position coach from 2004 to 2006, and Griffin, Carter, Alexander, tackles Kedric Golston and Anthony Montgomery and end Chris Wilson were all linemates when he was cut.
“It’s an opportunity that I didn’t foresee,” Wynn said. “It’s great for me, my wife and my daughter. Everyone’s happy. We still have a place in [Las] Vegas, but this is like a second home. You never realize how much a place grows on you until you leave.”
Notes - Montgomery signed his $1.01 million restricted free agent tender Wednesday. … Griffin, who had surgery on his right shoulder in January, isn’t yet doing upper-body work but said he certainly will be ready for training camp in late July, if not for the May 1-3 minicamp.
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