Washington adds a talented pass rusher to a defense that sorely lacked consistency in 2015, and Galette gets the short-term contract that he hoped for as he prepares to come back from the ruptured Achilles’ tendon injury that he suffered last August, and which forced him to miss the past year.

The Redskins, who signed Galette to a one-year deal a day into training camp last July, originally had hoped to sign the 27-year-old to a two- to three-year deal that featured a low base salary and incentives built in for greater earning potential.

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Galette, meanwhile, wanted only a one-year deal, and one that featured a higher salary than Washington originally offered. He hoped that the one-year deal would position him to prove that he’s regained the form from the 2013 and 2014 seasons, in which he had 22 sacks combined, and then set himself up for a bigger pay day in 2017.

Galette was unhappy with the one-, two- and three-year offers that Washington extended to him late in February, and changed agents (the fifth of his NFL career and his third in the past year). The Redskins maintained a degree of leverage, however, because they had the right of first refusal, meaning they could match any offer that another team extended to Galette.

Several other teams expressed interest in Galette in the second and third wave of free agency, a person with knowledge of the situation said, but their offers were of minimal value. Galette’s 2015 injury, and past off-field issues, which included clashes with his original team, the New Orleans Saints — who cut him last offseason a year after giving him a $41.5 million dollar extension — and off-field legal issues, made teams hesitant to give him a lucrative offer.

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Finally, late Tuesday night, Galette and the Redskins came to a mutual agreement.

He is expected to join forces with Ryan Kerrigan (9.5 sacks in 2015) and second-year pro Preston Smith (8.5 sacks as a rookie) and defensive end Chris Baker (six sacks in 2015) to spearhead Washington’s pass-rushing attack.

Discussing his optimism for returning to Washington, Galette said earlier this month, “We’ll see what happens. But I really want to play alongside Ryan Kerrigan, and I’ve seen the way Chris Baker emerged as an elite interior defensive lineman. I’ve never had that. And Preston Smith is about to be elite real soon. We could do something really special. But we’ll see how it goes.”

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