The Washington Redskins claimed former Denver Broncos center J.D. Walton off waivers on Wednesday. Walton played two seasons with Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III in college.
Walton (6-3, 305 pounds) was drafted by Denver in the 3rd round of the 2010 draft out of Baylor. He has not played since breaking his left ankle in Week 4 last season as he spent all of this season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list before being activated on November 5th. Walton started all 16 games in 2010 and 2011 for Denver.
Walton will not be used this season as he gets more acquainted with the system this offseason. “We liked him out of college,” Coach Mike Shanahan said. “We liked how he played in Denver the first couple years. Those are the reasons we claimed him. …This is for the future. It will be him coming back to the squad next year and competing with the rest of the offensive linemen.”
“Robert gave him the highest recommendation as a person,” Shanahan said, referring to Griffin. “But we’ll go back and look at the film. We’ve liked what we saw. …You can see he’s a football player. You’ve always got a question mark with the medical, but well see that in time.”
To make room on the active roster to sign Walton, the Redskins waived wide receiver Lance Lewis. Lewis played in three games for the Redskins after being signed off their practice squad on November 21st, but played primarily on special teams.
