The Redskins re-signed safety Deshazor Everett after the young defensive back started half of last season's games. He's hoping to continue his progression at the position he only began playing two years ago.
To get a good sense of safety Deshazor Everett's mindset upon signing his new contract with the Redskins last week, all you needed to do was look at his Instagram account.
"Hard to say thank you for some [expletive] you know you deserve," he wrote after the deal was official, a window into how confident the young defensive back has become during his short time in the league.
He has reason to be after starting eight games last year for the Redskins, settling into the safety position in his second season learning the position since switching from cornerback. Everett, in a recent interview with Redskins.com, said the process reminded him of trying to make the roster in his rookie year, waiting to see if Washington would be the team to take him.
"I mean I knew I'd definitely continue to pursue a career in the NFL, I just didn't know whether it'd be in Washington or not," Everett said. "I really love it here, love it in Washington, and I wanted to stay but you know, it's a business and at the end of the day I knew whatever happened was going to happen but I was just hoping it was Washington and it turned out to be."
In 14 games last year, Everett made 62 tackles with five passes defensed and a forced fumble. He started the season opener against the Eagles and became a vital backup when Montae Nicholson missed significant time with injury.
"You know later in the year, the more games I consistently played, I felt like the better I got and that's just from seeing football," Everett said. "The more you see it, that's how veteran players become so good, it's a lot of things you see for the first time that the next time you're not going to miss and I mean I left some plays out there just from being out there for the first time to experience. The game's faster, the game's different, you get put in different situations. I learned and I'll continue to learn."
Everett will spend the next month, like most players, continuing to train personally before OTAs begin while keeping in touch with teammates in the time being. He'll also be on a familiar workout regimen with an ex-Redskin.
Last year, Everett trained with former safety Ryan Clark in Louisiana and will do so again this year, working on footwork and single-leg stability drills. Everett was impressed with the way the drills translated for him in practice and games and is looking forward to continuing his development.
"He definitely targets my weaknesses to make me better in those areas and we talk about it," Everett said of Clark. "It's like things that I struggle with, that's the hard days for me, but the things that I'm really good at and strong at, I kind of breeze through them so I didn't too many easy days."
The Redskins have high hopes for the duo of D.J. Swearinger and Nicholson at safety, but Everett remains a big part of the puzzle, both for depth and as a valuable special teams player. It's an area that Everett has excelled at and one of the reasons he's staying in Washington.
"I've learned a lot through the years," Everett said. "But I don't know everything so I just show [special teams players] what I know and how I can help them and what's comfortable for them, because everything's not comfortable for the same person. I mean, special teams just kind of comes easy to me, and that's just confidence and knowledge. So as far as helping the other guys, I just tell them what I've seen, what I've been through and what to expect, just preparing the best that I could."
