On Johnson, who is in line to start at strong safety after four years as a backup in Seattle:
“I’ve known him. I was there when we signed him as a college free agent. I told [Seahawks GM] John Schneider, as soon as we signed him, ‘He’ll be a hard guy to run off.’ The coaches will fall in love with him because he’s a smart guy. He’s a tough guy. He’s been through a lot of adversity in his life, and he’s always responded the right way. The thing about it too, is he has not had a losing season since high school, and that plays into it a little bit.
“But he’s what I look for in an overachieving guy from the standpoint of toughness, work ethic, competitiveness, intelligence. I told him, ‘Listen, bring what you guys did on the practice field in Seattle. Bring that with you. Bring that competitiveness. Bring that every day world-championship team.’ And he has that mentality and he wants that mentality. From his standpoint, it’s too bad he was behind Earl and Kam. But you’ll see. He’s a good football player.”
On Terrance Knighton, who signed a one-year deal and will compete with Chris Baker for starting nose tackle duties:
“Getting Terrance Knighton; give him a one-year deal. Great. And if you prove yourself, I’ll take care of you. If you produce, you know? And they want that: the opportunity.
“The thing about with Baker, I was really impressed with him off of tape. I didn’t really know him that well, so watching last year’s tape, I was very impressed. He’s going to come in here and play and he’s going to play well for us. But the thing that was impressive about Terrance was for a 350-plus-pound guy, last year, he played 48 percent of the snaps. And for a big guy like that, a nose, you just don’t see that, and he played well. He played hard. He had a mentality. He wants the big contract, which I love. Come in here and play, and be a Pro Bowler. I’m going to take care of you.”
On Paea, who is coming off of a career year in Chicago with six sacks:
“It’s excellent from a standpoint of our 3-4 scheme as a 3-technique. Being able to get up the field. Last year was his best year by far, and I’ve always followed him. I liked him a lot in college, because he’s a high-character guy, and he just plays and plays and plays. He loves football. He has that initial quickness, that first step to get upfield and cause problems as a rusher. In the three-technique in our defense, that’s huge, and he fits right into that.”
On Culliver, who earned the largest contract of any Redskins signee this free agency period ($8 million per season), and will start at one of the cornerback positions, but does have some baggage:
“Good football player from a really good defense [in San Francisco]. We did all our homework and background, and all is good.”
On remaining holes that must be filled, including free safety, outside linebacker and offensive linemen:
“We’ve still got some things we’re working in free agency, and I understand, there’s holes still left to be filled, and we’re working on it. It’s not an overnight fix, but we made steps in the right direction, to help us get better.”
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