Always Thinking Big, Redskins' Fletcher Remains an Inspiration

And people listened -- listened as if they were rookie investors in the presence of an old-school money manager.

On the field, Clinton Portis is respected as a stone-cold competitor. Albert Haynesworth is respected for his ability to shed three blockers at once. Chris Cooley is respected as a beer truck with a broken parking brake after he catches the ball.

London Fletcher is respected.

Teammates always figure if a guy that small and compact can have the closing speed of a rat trap, if a man who moves like a fire hydrant on wheels can drop much bigger players the way he dropped Brandon Jacobs in the opener against the Giants -- really, if a Division III undrafted rookie somehow found a way to escape the temptations of East Cleveland and the perceptions of others to last 12 years in a kill-or-be-cut league -- well, they'd better be able to, too.

Twelve years later, it is impossible to find a better combination of old-head sage and sanctioned violence in Ashburn.

Jim Zorn needs London Fletcher more than he needs Jason Campbell right now.

Fletcher brings teams together. He brings people together.

"To be honest, when I was a kid, I didn't even think about being in the NFL," he said, walking behind the children whose mouths were agape as they climbed the steps toward the grand sight of the Capitol rotunda, whose ornately painted ceiling is 29 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty.

"I thought I wanted to be a politician."

And? "I took my first political science class in freshman year of college and it was tough. Tough to stay awake."

Fletcher laughed.

"Who knows, I might have been on a different career path. But God had a bigger plan. He knew I'd eventually wind up at the Capitol."