Redskins' McCloughan: Galette signing comes after much research

What the Saints (willingly) lost this week, the Redskins (willingly) gained when Washington signed linebacker Junior Galette. 

New Orleans wanted nothing to do with him after a series of off-field issues, even taking a $17 million cap hit in the process. Redskins G.M. Scot McCloughan, on the other hand, wanted everything to do with him.

Though, not exactly at first.

"From the get-go, I was a little nervous about, 'Okay, geez, there's some things out there," McCloughan said at Redskins training camp on Sunday in Richmond, Va.

Some things, like a January arrest on battery charges that were eventually dropped. But mostly the revelation last week of a 2013 video that allegedly shows Galette taking a belt to a woman on a beach in Miami. That was the straw that broke the Saints' back.

"But after we looked into everything -- even with the league office, talking to them and doing all that -- but like I said a couple of things are still pending, but we felt fine with him as a person," McCloughan added.

Galette is under investigation by the NFL for his off-field problems and does still face a potential suspension. 

"We did a thorough, thorough research. We did -- you know, brought him in, met with him for hours, interview-wise," he said. "The decision was made because we really believe he's a Redskin. And that's why we signed him."

He added that his and the team's research didn't begin only a few days ago when rumors of Galette's release were first being heard, but when those rumors were known only among insiders in the league's front offices.

"We started a while back," he said. "We heard the word on the street. We started a week before doing our research."

His addition, should he play, could be an intruiging addition to the Redskins' pass rush. Galette has the physicality and strength to get himself into the pocket to disrupt plays, notching 22 quarterback sacks over the last two seasons.

"This is a 27-year-old pass rusher that has a lot of production that's had some issues in the past," McCloughan said. "He had other options, but for some reason we talked him into us being his first visit."

He added there was more to the process than evaluating his talent on the field during that first visit to the team on their first day of training camp.

"I told him, 'I want you to be you.' The reason I'm here is to sit down with you face to face, one-on-one, one hour, two hours, three hours, it doesn't matter. I wanna get to know you as a person," he said. "That's what matters to me."

"He is so sincere and so excited about the opportunity to prove that he's a good guy, to prove that he's a good football player, to prove that he's got a great career ahead of him, it was plain and simple."

McCloughan, who said in April that he didn't want "bad guys" on his roster, laid the responsibility for what would become of the signing, good or bad, solely on his shoulders. 

"We all have some kind of issue," he said. "We've all made mistakes or something. I don't want repeat offenders. I don't want the guy that I know is not going to be a good guy and be in our locker room."

He said Galette met also with team president Bruce Allen and head coach Jay Gruden, both of whom were confident with his decision to add him.

"I felt really, really strong about it," he said.