“Got under my skin a little bit,” Sweat said.

Afterward, Penn grinned as he described his holds, all of which he maintained “extra late,” sometimes even after the play was whistled dead. Sweat and Penn have a good relationship — the veteran points out the technical adjustments the rookie must make, while the rookie’s motor keeps the veteran working hard — but this time, at one point, the laughs and jokes subsided. The situation irritated Sweat.

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Penn walked over after practice and explained: In a game, he wouldn’t hold Sweat, but in practice, when refs won’t call it, he will because it’s a teaching opportunity.

“You got to learn to get off holds,” Penn said. “They don’t call every hold in the game.”

For Sweat, this was another little lesson in a preseason full of them. There has been added scrutiny on him this preseason both because of what the Redskins traded to the Indianapolis Colts to get him with the 26th pick — a second-rounder this year and another next year — and because of why the highly rated rusher dropped that far.

Before the draft, Sweat was graded by most experts as a top-10 pick and one of the three best available edge rushers. His skill set has never been in greater demand in an increasingly pass-happy NFL, because every team needs players who can get pressure on opposing quarterbacks off the edge — not to mention ones with Sweat’s size (6-foot-6, 262 pounds) and speed who can also run and hit and cover. Sweat set a record for defensive linemen by running the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds at the NFL scouting combine.

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Still, after the combine, Sweat took criticism for what some said were a lack of effort and developed technique. Some thought that, because of his size, he should have had more than 22½ sacks in two seasons at Mississippi State. One NFL assistant coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his team was put off by Sweat’s combine interview, during which he appeared unfocused.

Then a pre-draft medical evaluation discovered a heart condition that reportedly scared off some teams but was later found to be less dangerous than previously believed. The Redskins, for their part, did not believe there would be a problem.

None of the knocks concern Sweat anymore. He’s at Redskins Park every day learning “so much information, so many new processes.” His focus now is understanding the two positions the Redskins expect him to play: the strongside and weakside linebacker roles on opposite sides of the formation. It has helped him understand the unit’s objectives on each play, but he has found the complexity challenging.

“I’m not just rushing the passer anymore,” Sweat explained. “I got to learn coverages, know when to drop down, when to rush and, when I do drop, am I in man [coverage] or am I in zone? Just stuff like that.”

The defense understands what a healthy, honed-in Sweat could mean. They saw it in his professional debut against the Cincinnati Bengals in the second preseason game. Late in the first quarter, Sweat beat the left tackle around the edge and seemingly lined up a sack. He just missed quarterback Ryan Finley, who stepped up in the pocket and completed a pass for a modest gain. Still, interior defensive lineman Tim Settle said Sweat did his job by getting the quarterback to move off his spot.

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Settle noticed Sweat’s blend of size and speed change the Redskins’ approach on defense. They can play looser with him on the field, and it eases the strain on defensive backs when the edge rusher can hold his own in coverage in the flat or at the second level while remaining a threat to rush.

“[Offensive lines] definitely worry about him,” Settle said. “He’s definitely a factor, a concern for other teams as far as how he finds the ball, how he gets to the ball.”

His teammates see it, too. Penn pushes the 22-year-old because he thinks the kid from Stone Mountain, Ga., could be “a dominant force in this league.” Sweat has the type of frame and build that makes even other pro athletes envious. He is long and strong in a way that reminds Penn of Julius Peppers, the former star edge rusher for the Carolina Panthers.

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There’s a long way to go for Sweat to perform like Peppers. He must start by improving the finer points of his game — power rush, finesse moves, run-stopping ability, developing technique to consistently get his arms on linemen. But Penn said if Sweat does that and muscles up, he could close in on his potential.

“He’s got to do all that, but he's coming to work every day,” Penn said.

Near the end of practice, Sweat lined up again against Penn. The ball was snapped. Sweat used his length to get the veteran off balance and blew by him and into the backfield at last.

“I was mad at him,” Penn said with a laugh. “He was like, ‘My bad, pimp, my bad.’ I was like: ‘Don’t apologize! That’s a great [expletive] move you did. Keep that up. That’s going to help us.’ ”