Pro Football Focus will be providing analysis for every major NFL signing and trade during the 2015 free-agency period, accounting primarily for the quality of the player and his fit with his new team, and focusing less on the financial terms of the deal.
Here is a grade for the reported deal between Stephen Paea and the Washington Redskins.
Link to grade articles on every major deal
Washington Redskins: C+
The never-ending rebuilding project to improve the Washington Redskins' defensive line takes yet another swing at a free agent, this time in the form of defensive lineman Stephen Paea.
On the surface this move appears to make a lot of sense, even if the Redskins haven't quite worked out exactly where he will play in their front. Paea played nose tackle in the Bears' four-man line last year and earned a very healthy plus-18.2 pass-rushing grade in our PFF ratings, thanks to five sacks and 47 total pressures.
Yet when you dig a little deeper you discover that almost half of that grade and 10 of those 47 pressures came in one game against the Buccaneers, while one game against the Lions provided the other half of his grade. In the 14 other games, Paea graded out almost exactly average at minus-0.2, though at least he still generated pressure.
Outside of 2014 Paea has a career grade of minus-12.8, so he will need to prove that his high points of 2014 were no fluke if he wants to justify the investment that Washington's management is making in him.
The positive news is that of all the positions from which Paea rushed the passer this season, he was the second-most efficient from the 0-technique (head up on the center as a true 3-4 nose tackle). From 57 rushes in this position he notched eight total pressures, a rate he bettered at only one other spot (4i-technique, inside shade of a tackle).