Freischaltung » Taking a defensive lineman from Alabama in the first

ASHBURN http://www.jetsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jachai-polite-jersey , Va. (AP) round for the second consecutive year, the Washington Redskins chose tackle Da’Ron Payne with the 13th overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night.The 6-foot-2, 311-pound Payne is considered a top-notch run-stopper, and he’ll line up next to former college teammate Jonathan Allen, Washington’s initial selection in 2017.”That’s my guy,” Payne said.It’s the first time the Redskins drafted players from the same school in consecutive first rounds since getting Oklahoma’s George Thomas and Leon Heath in 1950-51.Payne also joins another Alabama defender, linebacker Ron Anderson, selected by Washington in the second round a year ago.”I get the opportunity to play with old teammates,” Payne said in a conference call from a party with family members in Birmingham, Alabama. ”At Alabama, I won a bunch of games. I think I can take that winning mindset and the whole mentality it takes to be a winner and take it to the Washington Redskins.”Asked to describe his style of play, Payne said: ”Just a relentless lineman. I’m going to get after the pass rush and just dominate the run every chance I get.”His most famous play for the Crimson Tide might actually have come on the other side of the ball: He caught a touchdown pass against Clemson in a College Football Playoff victory last season.After missing the playoffs and going 7-9 last season, the Redskins entered the draft with all sorts of areas of need on the roster, but perhaps nothing as pressing as various places on defense and at running back. While the Redskins will be expected to try to improve an ineffective rushing offense later in the draft – only four teams ran for fewer yards last season – they opened by beginning to address the problems on ”D.”Having traded for Alex Smith from the Kansas City Chiefs and signed him to a four-year extension, they were not among the many teams in the market for a young quarterback. So with an unprecedented four QBs taken in the top 10, some highly regarded players on the defensive side drifted down toward Washington.And that unit could use the help, particularly when it comes to Payne’s specialty: stuffing runners.Only four teams gave up more points per game than the 24.2 allowed by the Redskins, and none was as easy to run against: They were gashed for a league-worst average of 134.1 yards on the ground. They also were prone to ceding chunks of yardage at a time Chuma Edoga Jersey , with opponents recording 54 plays of 20 or more yards; only a half-dozen clubs let up more than that.And in the NFC East, it’s vital to stop the run. The Dallas Cowboys, for example, have 2016 NFL rushing leader Ezekiel Elliott, and the New York Giants made Penn State running back Saquon Barkley the No. 2 overall pick Thursday night.”You see what’s going on in our division, with Saquon Barkley and Zeke Elliott and Philadelphia, the way they run the ball,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. ”Our ranking on defense wasn’t quite up to speed at 32nd, and we feel like Da’Ron paired with Jonathan Allen and the rest of the guys … is a perfect fit.”A year ago, Washington got Allen with the 17th overall pick. He played promisingly when he was on the field, but only appeared in five games before getting injured and missing the rest of the season.The Redskins have seven other picks in this year’s draft, starting in the second round with No. 44 overall. They do not have a choice in the third round, because it was sent to Kansas City in the Smith deal.— INDIANAPOLIS (AP)John Elway is giving his clearest indication yet that he’s going to pursue Kirk Cousins, the prize of this year’s free-agent quarterbacks.”We’re going to explore all options in free agency and see where that goes,” Elway said Wednesday at the NFL combine. ”Obviously we’ve got the fifth pick in the draft, too. That will all play into it. We’ll continue to look at all of the options out there when it comes to quarterback.”The Denver Broncos general manager stressed that he’ll look at ”anybody that won’t be under contract.”With the Washington Redskins moving on to Alex Smith, whom they’ve agreed to acquire from Kansas City, that group of free agents would include Cousins http://www.jetsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-trevon-wesco-jersey , who figures to command more than the record $27.5 million that Jimmy Garoppolo will receive in his new deal with the San Francisco 49ers.Elway said he’s confident the team could absorb a big free-agent contract under the salary cap, revealed the Broncos are considering moving Ronald Leary back to left guard and indicated highly paid receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders aren’t going anywhere.”Yes, the plan is to have them back,” Elway said.That means, Elway will pick up Thomas’ $4 million bonus in March, which will keep the last two years of the wide receiver’s contract in place.”That is the plan, yes.”The returns of tight end Jake Butt and slot receiver Carlos Henderson, who spent their rookie years on IR last season, could help bolster the Broncos’ offense, as well.Elway has been stung by the draft selections of Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch, but he hit the jackpot six years ago when he landed Peyton Manning.The Broncos have missed the playoffs each of the two seasons after Manning retired, including a 5-11 season last year when they cycled through quarterbacks Trevor Siemian, Osweiler and Lynch twice .Elway said he’s eager to see the promising class of college quarterbacks this week that features Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Lamar Jackson and Mason Rudolph.”There is a possibility of some really good quarterbacks coming out of this draft,” Elway said.Elway got burned two years ago when he moved up to take Lynch with the 26th overall pick only to watch him founder on the sideline most of the past two seasons.”Believe me Clelin Ferrell Jersey , I’m not done swinging and missing,” Elway said with a laugh. ”Misses don’t bother me. We just have to figure out a way to get it right. That is what we are working on.”Even with so much uncertainty at quarterback, Elway has been in a good mood this week.”If there’s any year I wanted to play it was last year, to come back and play as a player and try to get things turned around,” Elway said. ”Sitting in my chair was a long, long year.”Elway is also a member of the league’s competition committee which has been discussing simplifying the catch rule that’s become so cumbersome in recent seasons and which commissioner Roger Goodell has put atop his offseason fix-it list.Elway said the competition committee is making progress in that regard.”I think it’ll be much simpler and I think everyone will understand what a catch is and what it isn’t,” Elway said. ”I think that we’re in the process of everything that we covered so far, it’s going to be much better.”So, ”survive the ground” will soon be out of the NFL’s lexicon.”Yeah, going to the ground, that’ll be changed,” Elway said.Goodell wanted the league to go back and start from scratch after tweaks to the rule only made it more troublesome.”Or let’s go back to what the old definition of what a catch was, right? Two feet down, control and move and then you’ve got a catch,” Elway said. ”That’s what it’s going to be more like.”—