Terrelle Pryor, wide receiver, age 27

Pryor is the biggest name Washington brought in. Having lost its top two receivers from last year, Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson, Washington looked light at a position that has been a strength in recent years. Adding Pryor not only helps soften the blow, it helps take pressure off of Josh Doctson and Jamison Crowder, who were expected to step up and fill the shoes of Garcon and Jackson.

What Pryor offers that both Jackson and Garcon lacked is size and jump-ball ability. The 6-foot-4, 223-pound receiver is about as big as they come. He offers his quarterback a large catch radius, giving Kirk Cousins more margin for error on throws. Those aspects should prove valuable in the red zone, where Washington struggled offensively last season.

Here, Pryor lines up in the slot in a trips formation to the right. He takes an inside stem before breaking outside to the back corner of the end zone on a corner route.

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The cornerback plays outside leverage, knowing he has a safety to help him inside. He allows Pryor to release freely off the line of scrimmage into his route. As Pryor makes his cut, the cornerback has solid position with a safety in the area to provide help if needed. The quarterback shows complete faith in Pryor, lobbing a jump ball and trusting him to go and get it. Pryor shows great body control, turning himself around and leaping above the defender to high-point the football and come down with the touchdown.

Pryor’s catch radius isn’t just something to be used in the red zone on fade routes. While it can be effective there, I expect Washington to make the most of it with things like back shoulder throws.

On this play, the Browns isolate Pryor to the left, matching him up against Washington cornerback Josh Norman.

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Pryor takes an outside release that is perhaps more dramatic than it needed to be. He rounded off his release outside, giving himself less room to work with as Norman attempts to show him to the sideline. But because of his catch radius, quarterbacks completely trust Pryor to go up and get it if need be. The quarterback on this play releases the ball before Pryor begins to look back inside for it. He knows he can throw it on Pryor’s back shoulder and he’ll make the adjustment and pull in the catch over the corner.

Once Pryor looks back for the ball, Norman closes the gap between them and gets tight, but the ball is placed well outside, giving Norman no chance to make a play on it. Pryor extends his arms, using his body to shield Norman from the ball and pulls in the catch.

Pryor offers a unique skill set that every team covets because natural talent can’t be coached. He is still raw in certain areas of his game, which is to be expected from somebody that has only played receiver for a year. His route-running needs to improve, but this ability to go up and get the ball will greatly increase a quarterback’s trust in him.

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D.J. Swearinger, free safety, age 25

The second-round pick out of South Carolina had been labelled as somewhat of a bust until recently. His talent has been clear to see since before he was drafted, but he has had struggles with discipline in coverage and general inconsistency. That saw him cut by the Texans before the end of his second season in the NFL. From there, he spent a short and uneventful spell with the Buccaneers before landing with the Cardinals in late 2015.

Then things appeared to come together for Swearinger. He’s always been seen as a typical box safety, more suited for a traditional strong safety role. However, Arizona suffered injuries to its secondary, forcing Swearinger to fill in at free safety. He quickly settled into the role further off the ball and looked accomplished doing so.

He’s always been an extremely aggressive safety, which has gotten him into trouble at times. But with the Cardinals, he appeared to have a better grasp of when to play aggressive and when to just play his assignment correctly. Free safeties aren’t typically that aggressive. They’re more known for being deep defenders that stay on top of everything, and thus have little impact on anything underneath. But Swearinger’s aggression allows him to impact more plays than the typical free safety.

Here, Swearinger lines up as the deep safety, assigned to cover the deep middle third of the field. The Falcons have receiver Julio Jones run a dig route out of a bunch formation to the left.

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Swearinger quickly identifies the dig route from Jones. Instead of back-pedalling, like most free safeties would do, Swearinger plays it flat-footed. After reading the break inside, he gets his eyes on the quarterback to look for the throw. As the throw arrives, Swearinger jumps the route. He closes quickly and gets in front of Jones as the ball arrives. He dropped the interception, but it still demonstrates the aggression that impacted a route that most free safeties typically play too deep to reach.

That aggression is clear to see in every game he plays. He fully trusts his instincts and his reads and will fully commit to breaking on a route if he thinks that is where the ball is going.

This time, Swearinger works as part of a two-deep safety look before the snap. The Panthers look to find receiver Kelvin Benjamin on a dig route.

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Like before, Swearinger squats on the route, anticipating the route breaking inside. He keeps his eyes in the backfield and as soon as the quarterback begins his throwing motion, Swearinger jumps the route. Like before, he does an excellent job closing the gap quickly and getting his hand to the catch point to break up the pass.

It’ll be interesting to see how Swearinger does outside of Arizona, where the talent surrounding him on that defense was much greater than the supporting cast he will have in Washington. The aggression is great when used correctly. It allows him to impact routes on intermediate and underneath levels that most free safeties can’t get to. Given Washington’s tendency to give up intermediate passes on third and long last year, adding Swearinger could greatly improve the team in that aspect. However, the aggression can make him vulnerable to double moves should he get too aggressive. That’s easily overlooked when Arizona can provide a pass rush that prevents a quarterback from having time in the pocket for the route to develop, but Washington’s pass rush isn’t nearly as threatening as Arizona’s.

Terrell McClain, defensive end, age 28

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Like Swearinger, McClain has always flashed talent but struggled to put it all together. He was a third-round pick of the Panthers back in 2011, but has bounced around the league since then. He spent time with both the Patriots and the Texans before finally landing with the Cowboys in 2014, where he finally found his feet.

McClain is all about first-step quickness. He beats blockers with a good burst off the snap that typical interior offensive linemen can’t handle.

On this play, the Giants look to run the ball to the right, with center Weston Richburg charged with the task of down-blocking McClain to allow the left guard to pull around and act as the lead blocker.

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McClain gets an excellent jump off the snap. He stunts inside, eluding the down block from Richburg in the process. As the running back secures the hand off, he’s met instantly by McClain in the hole. He attempts to cut back quickly, but McClain closes and makes the tackle for a loss.

That quickness matches up well inside. Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky said he expects McClain to play more of a 3-4 defensive end role in their base package, which would put McClain more outside. But with the Cowboys, McClain usually lined up inside, shaded over the center. That’s where his quickness is most effective.

Here, the Eagles look to run the ball inside the tackles to their left. McClain lines up directly over the center and attempts to go under him in pursuit of the running back.

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Like before, the quickness is clear to see. The center attempts to counter McClain’s quickness with a quick set of his own, but McClain doesn’t take the bait and works under him, shoving him down to the ground with a swim move. McClain gets to the back before he really has any chance to avoid him. The hit forces the ball out, which the Cowboys manage to recover for a turnover.

The quickness McClain offers is something Washington lacks along its defensive line. That burst doesn’t always translate to much of a pass rush, because offensive lineman drop back to account for it instead of step forward as they would for a run block. But McClain can still surprise some guards and centers with a good initial burst off the line in pass rushing situations. It usually works best when combined with some sort of stunt or twist. He might not put up spectacular numbers, but he should provide a solid piece to the defensive line rotation that can help improve a woefully poor run defense.

Stacy McGee, defensive end, age 27

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McGee was a sixth-round pick of the Raiders in 2013 and worked his way up the depth chart. Last year, he saw a solid amount of snaps as part of the defensive line rotation. It’s fair to say he hasn’t been a flashy player so far in his NFL career, but when I studied him, I was impressed with several aspects of his game. He’s a big, stout run-defender that is fundamentally sound. While he only has three career sacks, he does also provide some interior push that stops quarterbacks stepping up in the pocket to avoid the edge rushers.

His best trait though, is his length. He has long, 34 1/2-inch arms that he uses well to keep himself clean while maintaining his gap integrity.

Here, the Falcons run an inside zone play to their left. McGee lines up as the three-technique defensive tackle on the outside shoulder of the left guard. On inside zone runs, the play side defensive tackle, in this case McGee, is the first read for the running back and his position will determine if the back continues on his path or cuts the run back inside.

Off the snap, McGee lacks the same first step burst that McClain has, but he has solid technique. He makes sure to keep low, getting underneath the pad level of the left guard. He strikes his hands inside quickly, getting them on the chest of the guard. That gives him all the leverage he needs on the block. With his hands inside, McGee simply extends his arms out and makes use of his long reach, keeping the guard at length and stopping him from being able to control the block. He squeezes the guard inside, while maintaining outside position. This not only forces the running back to cut back inside immediately, but forces him to cut it all the way back because he squeezed the guard close to the center, clogging that gap too.

Unfortunately, the rest of the run defense can’t back up McGee and the back manages to pick up a solid gain. But McGee played his part perfectly. That arm length is a key component to his game as it allows him to stack blockers and keep himself clean in the process.

This time, McGee is on the back side of the run. He lines up in the same three-technique spot, on the outside shoulder of the left guard, but the Texans run the ball to the right, at least initially.

Just like before, McGee makes the most of his length. He quickly works his hands to the chest of the center and uses a one-arm approach to keep the guard even further away from him. The guard attempts to fight back, clubbing McGee’s left arm away, but McGee quickly lands his right hand to the chest of the guard to regain his strong position. Meanwhile, the running back has nowhere to go on the front side of the run and is forced to cut the ball back. McGee gets his eyes in the back field and spots the runner cutting back towards him. McGee disengages with his blocker and works inside to make the tackle for no gain.