ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Redskins decided to stay the course at right tackle Sunday, agreeing to terms with Jammal Brown for a five-year deal worth $27.5 million.

The Redskins also re-signed linebacker H.B. Blades and acquired running back Tim Hightower from the Arizona Cardinals for defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday and an undisclosed draft pick.

Brown rounds out a potential starting offensive line for coach Mike Shanahan’s team. Second-year player Trent Williams is set at left tackle, Kory Lichtensteiger at left guard, Will Montgomery at center, and newly signed free agent Chris Chester at right guard.

Brown started 15 games for the Redskins last season, but he was limited by a hip injury suffered the year before. He previously spent five seasons with New Orleans.

Blades has become a key special teams contributor over four seasons with the Redskins.

Ryan Torain is the favorite to start at running back this season, but Hightower could push for the job. He rushed for 736 yards and five touchdowns last season. He also lost four fumbles.

Holliday spent one season with the Redskins, playing mostly as a reserve, and was better known as the team’s player representative during the recent labor talks. He has also played for Green Bay, Kansas City, Miami and Denver over 13 NFL seasons.

Jim Haslett entered last offseason with a wish list as long as a football field. His first year as the Washington Redskins‘ defensive coordinator was a major struggle following coach Mike Shanahan’s mandate to install a 3-4 alignment mostly with players assembled by the previous regime to run a 4-3.

The growing pains were deep, and numerous holes were exposed. The defense forced more takeaways, as Shanahan hoped, but it allowed more yards than all but one team in the NFL.

Seven months later, at the dawn of a new campaign, Haslett’s list is considerably shorter. Shanahan prioritized defensive upgrades in the draft and free agency, giving the unit a facelift that should move the Redskins closer to achieving their vision for the 3-4 scheme.

“I think it’s a big upgrade for us,” Haslett said Saturday.

As understatements go, that’s near the top. Of course, it wouldn’t have taken much to improve a defense that surrendered 5.9 yards per play, but Shanahan followed through.

Haslett openly lobbied at the end of last season for the Redskins to use their first- and second-round picks on defensive players. Shanahan drafted outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan 17th overall and defensive lineman Jarvis Jenkins in the second round.

Before the lockout, Haslett helped sign free agent free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe. And last week, the Redskins signed free agent nose tackle Barry Cofield, defensive end Stephen Bowen and cornerback Josh Wilson.

Atogwe, Cofield, Bowen and Kerrigan are expected to start, and Jenkins at least will regularly factor into the defensive line rotation. Wilson might start, depending on whether the Redskins sign another cornerback.

Shanahan believes the most important additions are to the line. The trio of nose tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu and ends Adam Carriker and Kedric Golston was a liability last season. Too often they were pushed off the line of scrimmage. Kemoeatu was cut last week, Golston is a free agent who remains unsigned and Carriker is in camp.

“You got two guys [Cofield and Bowen] who are 27 years old, natural leaders, and that’s to me how you build a football team. You build it up front,” Shanahan said. “It starts with that defensive line and that offensive line. We’ve got a couple young guys that, I believe, are future captains, guys that can lead and play well.”

Haslett expects Cofield and Bowen’s youth to be a significant asset. Kemoeatu was 31 last season, and recently-released end Phillip Daniels was 37.

“That’s the big thing,” Haslett said. “We had some age last year up front. You could see we wore down as the season wore on.”

The Redskins expect the new additions to generate a pass rush that was almost nonexistent a year ago. Pro Bowl outside linebacker Brian Orakpo had a team-high 8.5 sacks, six more than any defensive lineman. Washington ranked 29th in the league in sacks per pass attempt.

“As a defensive lineman, you should feel like no center should block you one-on-one,”said Cofield, unknowingly acknowledging one of Kemoeatu’s shortcomings last year. “That’s something you should relish. I think I can do a great job collapsing the pocket here.”

The Redskins expect Kerrigan’s pass-rushing prowess to balance the pressure Orakpo provides from the right. They hope the attention Orakpo commands from blockers will free Kerrigan for sacks and to create turnovers.

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ASHBURN, Va – With the fans coming out to see the team for the first time since last season, the Redskins began their second day of practice this morning here at Redskins Park. 

One of the most intriguing stories about this training camp (besides not having any drama) is the fact that the fanbase doesn’t seem to have a central figure to rally around anymore. 

Enter John Beck.

Fans were as boisterous as they usually are, but weren’t treated to a great performance from the quarterback this morning. Beck had an up and down practice, being able to complete throws accurately underneath and on intermediate routes, but was not able to hit on deep passes. By my count, he missed at least three deep shots, a few to rookie Aldrick Robinson, and another to second year man Anthony Armstrong. Fans were quick to voice their displeasure, particularly on the deep misses. But again, can’t put too much into these OTA-like practices so far.

The Washington Redskins‘ quarterback carousel has twirled away from Donovan McNabb toward John Beck and maybe Rex Grossman. Coach Mike Shanahan is at the controls, and he feels good about a situation that many fans and media have questioned. Really good.

“I believe in the guys,” Shanahan said Friday evening in his first media session since the draft in April. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’m putting my reputation on these guys that they can play.”

Shanahan established the stakes before the anticipated quarterback competition between Beck and Grossman begins. For it to get underway, Grossman must sign a free-agent contract. Shanahan and Beck both said they expect him to re-sign soon. For now, Beck and undrafted free agent Ben Chappell are the only two quarterbacks in training camp.

Shanahan’s faith in Beck became apparent after the Redskins didn’t draft a quarterback in April. Suddenly, Washington’s No. 3 quarterback in 2010 was a favorite for the starting job. Never mind that he hasn’t played in a regular-season game since he lost all four of his starts for the 1-15 Miami Dolphins as a rookie in 2007.

“You evaluate those games and there’s nothing that he shows … that says he can’t do it,” offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said. “He plays like a rookie in those [four] games sometimes, but he also does some good things. The jury is still out. He’s a second-round pick and a guy that should get a chance.”

Mike Shanahan thinks so, too. His belief in Beck has helped him move on from McNabb’s checkered one-year tenure.

The head coach reflected on his failed union with McNabb and spoke for the first time about the decision to trade him to the Minnesota Vikings.

“I told Donovan when he came in here, I said, ‘Hey, these are the reasons why I think Philly did not sign you,’” Shanahan recalled. “They were going to go with [quarterback Kevin] Kolb. ‘This is what you’re going to have to do to stay on our football team for a number of years. And if you do that, I think you have a chance to go to the Pro Bowl and do the things you’ve been doing throughout your career.’ And it didn’t work out, and we go on.”

Shanahan’s feud with McNabb became ugly and public last December after he benched McNabb in favor of Grossman. Shanahan applauded how McNabb handled the situation and blamed McNabb’s agent, Fletcher Smith, for handling it without class.

During the winter, the Redskins gave Smith permission to find a trade partner, and the deal ultimately came to fruition this week.

“I still think that Donovan has a great future ahead of him,” Shanahan said. “If he decides to do the little things he needs to do to get to the next level, then it will be there. But I’m not going to go into detail about what those things are.”

Shanahan addressed a wide range of topics during his first session with the Redskins media corps in almost three months:

• He might as well have done backflips about trading away maligned defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “Either way, Albert wasn’t going to be here. If we traded him or not, he wasn’t going to come to our camp.”

• He’s pleased with the Redskins free-agent acquisitions so far. Players such as defensive linemen Barry Cofield and Stephen Bowen are young and known to have strong character.

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No Donovan McNabb. No Albert Haynesworth. No distractions.

It was all football on Friday morning as the Washington Redskins held their first practice of training camp at team headquarters in Ashburn, Va.

They fielded a team of 64 players — by a reporter’s unofficial count — which is significantly fewer than the 90 they are allowed under new league rules following the lockout. Because many free agents remain unsigned, and those who have signed are prohibited from practicing until Thursday, the players on hand got more repetitions than usual.

That suited some just fine.

“I want all those reps because reps equal experience to me,” said John Beck, who is competing for the starting quarterback job. He and undrafted rookie Ben Chappell were the only quarterbacks that participated.

The play was sloppy at times, exactly what you’d expect on the first day of camp following an offseason without any official team practices. There were multiple false starts during team drills, some errant passes and plenty of colorful language from coaches.

There was a palpable sense of relief among players that McNabb and Haynesworth were not around. Both players who feuded with the coaching staff last season were traded this week, averting a sideshow.

Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander enjoyed answering reporters’ questions about football instead of Haynesworth.

“It’s great,” he said. “Make this the last time you ask me about him.”

The temperature reached the mid-90s during the 2-hour, 20-minute practice. Defensive tackle Anthony Bryant fell out with cramps and an apparent heat-related illness. He left the field on a cart.

Safeties LaRon Landry (Achilles) and Kareem Moore (knee) were limited. Their injuries linger from last season.

Safety Oshiomogho Atogwe made his Redskins debut wearing No. 20. He was eligible to practice because he signed his free-agent contract before the lockout.

First-round pick Ryan Kerrigan practiced with the first-team defense at left-outside linebacker.

The Redskins have an afternoon walkthrough scheduled. Their practice at 8:30 a.m. Saturday is open to the public.

Coach Mike Shanahan is scheduled to meet with reporters at 6 p.m. It’s his first session with the Redskins‘ media corps since the draft concluded on April 30.

© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.