After visiting with the Washington Redskins on Wednesday, nose tackle Terrance Knighton is leaning toward accepting an offer with the New England Patriots, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Knighton, who played for the Redskins last year, met with the Patriots on Tuesday before visiting with his former team. As the free agency period approached earlier this month, the Redskins informed Knighton they’d be moving on from the run-stuffing veteran, but chose to re-open negotiations after he met with New England.
The Windsor, Connecticut native signed a one-year, $4.45 million contract to join the Redskins last season and had 29 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 15 games. He only missed one game — the Redskins’ 27-10 loss to the Patriots in Week 9 — because of severe cluster headaches, which he dealt with for most of the second half of the season.
Knighton, listed at 6-foot-3 and 354 pounds, has often had issues controlling his weight, which was why he was forced to accept the one-year deal from the Redskins last spring after two seasons with the Denver Broncos.
Coach Jay Gruden also said last week at the owners’ meetings in Boca Raton, Florida that the team would likely shy away from utilizing a traditional nose tackle because of the number of sub-packages the defense used last season. Knighton played just 34.9 percent of all defensive snaps in 2015.
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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