The Sports Xchange

The Washington Redskins are “very comfortable” with their decision to sign troubled outside linebacker Junior Galette after he was released by the New Orleans Saints because of off-field problems.

Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan said he and other members of the team’s front office interviewed over 20 people about Galette before deciding to sign him on Friday to a one-year contract for the league minimum of $745,000.

“It was a long process,” McCloughan said Sunday at the Bon Secours Redskins Training Center in Richmond, Va., according to CSNWashington.com. “I will promise you guys this: being new here and knowing where we’re going and what we want to build, I’m not going to bring a bad guy in. I will not give on that, at all.

“(He’s) not a bad guy. All players have issues. “We all have some kind of issues. We’ve all made mistakes. I don’t repeat offenders. I don’t want the guy that I know is not going to be a good guy to bring into our locker room. What you always read in the media and hear in the media is not always accurate. We did our investigation. We were thorough, thorough, thorough. (We talked) to the league office, other players and coaches in the league. This guy we feel very comfortable with going forward. Very comfortable.”

McCloughan said he spoke at length with Galette, and head coach coach Jay Gruden and team president Bruce Allen met with the pass rusher.

“I told him, I want you to be you,” he said. “The reason I’m here (is) to sit down with you face-to-face, one-on-one, an hour, two hours, three hours — it doesn’t matter. I want to get to know you as a person. That’s what matters to me. I (said), ‘I know you as a football player, I want to know you as a person.’ He’s so sincere and so excited about the excited about the opportunity to prove that he’s a good guy, a good football player, that he has a good career ahead of him.”

Galette was cut last Monday by the Saints — who paid him a $12 million bonus in March — following the release of a 2013 video that appears to show a physical altercation on a beach between Galette and a woman that involves a belt.

Galette was released after posting 22 sacks the past two seasons with the Saints. The parting led to a tirade from Galette.

The NFL has talked to Galette about his arrest in January for domestic simple battery, and the league is now investigating the 2013 video of the scuffle in South Beach, Fla.

“I sat with him for two hours. It was very intense. Very intense,” McCloughan said. “To the point where we were almost face-to-face. I was telling him what I expect. If he can’t bring it, then we don’t want you.

“I did not like the video at all. As a matter of fact, when I saw the video it was scary. That’s why I want to meet with him face-to-face. That’s why I had to sit down and ask him what happened. I got the real story and I’m fine with that.”

The 27-year-old Galette had 10 sacks in 2013 and collected a career-high 12 last season.