Redskins Gamble on Olkewicz

Neal Olkewicz has cleared his last hurdle and now seems destined to finish his career with the Washington Redskins.

The 11-year middle linebacker, who signed with Washington as a free agent out of Maryland and beat back several challengers over the last decade, cleared waivers Tuesday and will rejoin the team Wednesday when it starts practicing for the opener against the New York Giants Monday night. Olkewicz plans to make this his last season.

“I look at it as one more obstacle I had to overcome,” Olkewicz said. “I try to make a positive out of everything. It worked out all right so it wasn’t that big a deal.”

Olkewicz spent the last 24 hours wondering whether he could finish his career with the Redskins.

“It was a little weird,” he said as he waited to see if any other team would claim him, “but I wasn’t on pins and needles.”

The Redskins, who went two-for-three in roster gambles, won the gamble with Olkewicz when he wasn’t claimed. They figured that no team would claim him because of his age (32) and salary ($350,000). He also didn’t get any offers when he was left unprotected in February as a Plan B free agent.

They also won their gamble when they put kick returner Joe Howard on waivers Monday. Because Howard cleared waivers last month when the Buffalo Bills cut him, the Redskins figured he’d clear again. They were right.

But they lost their gamble when they put two defensive linemen, Curtis Maxey and Mark Duckens, on waivers and hoped that one of them would clear.

Neither did. Maxey was claimed by the Atlanta Falcons and Duckens by the New York Giants.

So the Redskins re-signed offensive lineman Ralph Tamm, who was one of the 13 players waived Monday, and added him to their roster while putting two offensive linemen, Ray Brown (knee) and Mark Schlereth (shoulder), and linebacker Brian Bonner (back) on the injured reserve list. They’ll be out a minimum of six weeks.

The Redskins will open the season with nine offensive linemen and six defensive linemen. Usually, they have eight linemen on offense and seven on defense.

This was the second time in the last year that the Giants have claimed a defensive lineman from the Redskins. Late last year, they claimed Robb White.

“The way we’re going, we better hire Torgy (Redskins defensive line coach LaVern Torgeson),” George Young, the Giants’ general manager, said. “He knows our players better than we do.”

When he was asked if he considered claiming Olkewicz to deprive the Redskins of their middle linebacker for the opener against the Giants, Young said, “We wouldn’t do that. That’s not fair to the Redskins or the player.”

The Falcons claimed Maxey to back up nose tackle Tony Casillas. To make room for Maxey, the Falcons cut their 12th-round draft pick, nose tackle Tony Bowick.

Explaining why he claimed Maxey, Ken Herock, the Atlanta director of college player personnel, said, “He’s a big kid with good size and decent quickness. We just felt like he’d give us some decent push up the middle.”

When Dean Hamel walked out of camp, Maxey became a starter, but then he suffered a twisted ankle. Markus Koch will open the season as a starting defensive tackle, although it’s likely Koch would have wound up moving inside even if Maxey hadn’t been hurt.

If there was one surprise, it was that running back Willard Reaves wasn’t claimed by any other team even though he scored six touchdowns in the exhibition season. He’s now free to sign with any team.

The Redskins also signed four players to their developmental squad -- wide receiver Carl Harry, offensive lineman Jim Bishop, defensive lineman Lybrant Robinson and safety Tim Smiley.

The Redskins were working the phones trying to fill the other two slots with players cut by other teams.