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WASHINGTON -- After a cautious start, the Washington Redskins made their first big move of free agency, luring former Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Jason Hatcher with a four-year, $27.5 million contract, according to a person familiar with the deal. Hatcher agreed to terms Thursday, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed. He gives the Redskins a much-needed pass rush from the defensive line to supplement linebackers Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan. Hatcher was one of the days several moves aimed at upgrading the defence of a 3-13 team. The Redskins also agreed to a one-year contract with free agent linebacker Darryl Sharpton, according to another person familiar with the deal who also spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract had not yet been signed. The Redskins also signed former Oakland Raiders cornerback Tracy Porter, according to reports. The team announced that it signed defensive end Clifton Geathers and that receiver Santana Moss had signed his contract, a one-year deal reached on Tuesday. Hatcher, 31, has played eight seasons with the Cowboys, but he didnt become a regular starter until 2011. He had 11 sacks last year, including two against the Redskins in a 31-16 Cowboys win at Dallas in October, and was selected to his first Pro Bowl. Sharpton has started 19 games over four seasons with the Houston Texans, including eight starts last year after Brian Cushing went down with a knee injury. He could be a candidate to replace inside linebacker London Fletcher, who is expected to retire, and could also help improve the Redskins struggling special teams. Geathers has been a backup for four teams over four NFL seasons. He spent last year with the Philadelphia Eagles. He is the nephew of James "Jumpy" Geathers, a 13-year NFL veteran who played for the Redskins from 1990-92. The Redskins were still searching for solutions at safety. Ryan Clark, who played for the Redskins in 2004-05 before leaving for eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was among the free agents who visited Redskins Park on Thursday. The Redskins spent the first two days of free agency making modest signings while losing out in the bidding for bigger names. Theyve added a No. 2 receiver (Andre Roberts), a potential starting guard (Shawn Lauvao) and a special teams contributor (Adam Hayward). Nike Air Zoom Cheap . "Canada," Bolland said with a smile. "Is that a question?" One day earlier, though, fellow Toronto Maple Leafs centre Nazem Kadri wasnt so sure his home and native land could pull off the win against the United States in the semi-finals of the Olympic hockey tournament. Nike Air Zoom Outlet . - The width of Alec Martinezs shin guard was the difference between the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks in their playoff series opener. http://www.nikezoomclearance.com/. The 41-year-old Northern Irishman has proved a perfect fit at Liverpool since taking over from Kenny Dalglish in the summer of 2012 and steered the team to an unexpected title challenge in the Premier League last season. Nike Zoom Wholesale . The team reported the signing on its website Thursday, but said Friday the deal was off in "a mutual parting of the ways that had to do with the language of the contract. Nike Zoom Clearance Sale . 15 in Hamburg. The fight was originally slated for Sept. 6 but had to be postponed after Klitschko tore a bicep in sparring and was forced to miss four weeks of training.The Toronto Maple Leafs made quite a splash with the hiring of an Assistant General Manager Tuesday. That might sound ludicrous, considering hes an Assistant General Manager, but it really is a pretty big deal. By hiring Kyle Dubas, a 28-year-old who has been the GM of the Ontario Hockey Leagues Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the past three seasons, the Leafs are bringing in a new voice. I dont know Dubas. I met him at this years Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, enjoyed talking hockey with him for a little while and we were both wowed by the advances in baseball tracking technology. I came away impressed and sure that he would be in the NHL before long. That he landed an NHL job this summer comes as no surprise. Landing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, however -- a franchise that has eschewed the use of analytics -- was a legitimate shock. When the Maple Leafs hired Brendan Shanahan to be the clubs new president this spring, there was a lot of talk of a culture change but, as the offseason progressed, it didnt appear that any grand change was taking place. They had fired three assistant coaches, but had the same GM, head coach and front office. If assistant coaches were dictating the culture of the franchise, that would be a first, so it didnt look like the culture change was forthcoming. Enter Dubas, and exit veteran hockey execs Claude Loiselle and Dave Poulin, who were let go. That is the start of a culture change and one of the best parts of it is that Dubas isnt one to get caught up in a buzz phrase like "culture change." He recognizes that winning does a lot to change a teams culture but, for fans and media, having a new voice in the board room -- one that has different ideas than those that have been in place for a while -- does mark a change in the Leafs culture. While teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings have found value in using advanced statistics, the Maple Leafs have been resistant. If those teams, likely the two best teams in the league over the past five seasons, were using analytics, why would any team not at least ensure that they were up to speed on the latest concepts? Never mind any team, why would the most valuable franchise in the sport, not spend a relative pittance to make sure that they knew and could comprehend the data? Upon hiring Dubas, Shanahan said that he perceived some problems in the Toronto front office. "I believe we have people in our organization who have maybe been afraid of certain words and certain information," said Shanahan. "Once you speak with Kyle, I think he makes it seem much more logical and easy to apply." This, I agree with. Dubas helps crack through old-school hockey minds because he can speak their language. Hes a bright guy with a hockey history and that allows him to communicate on the level of people who arent necessarily inclined to look at some of the more modern statistical advances, whether that means Corsi, zone starts, zone entries, whatever. And, ultimately, its not about the statistics, its about using them to help make better organizational decisions. "Im not going to rush in tomorrow and try to tell everybody how it is," Dubas told the Globe and Mails James Mirtle. "Thats not really the way I am." From my brief conversation with Dubas at the Sloan Conference, he noted that the Greyhounds possession numbers skyrocketed under head coach Sheldon Keefe, going from 47% to 57%, using their own manually-calculated metrics (because, unlike the NHL, the OHL doesnt have a stats feed of every event that happens in every game). Getting the information, and applying it to how a team should play, is a textbook example of how to use statistics as part of a teams overall strategy. The Greyhounds valued puck possession, coached their players to value puck possession and became a much better team as a result. On other topics, we talked about employing four forwards on the ice at times. He said the Greyhounds were experimenting with it, adding a top-line forward when the other team put their fourth line on the ice, figuring that there was a potential mismatch available, with minimal downside because other teams fourth lines werent necessarily a big threat. Merely thinking that little bit outside the box qualifies as creative in hockey circles and its the open-minded approach to try it that makes Dubas such an intriguing hire. Hes not stuck on the same old, same old because thats the wway it has always been done.dddddddddddd While Dubas has been painted as a stats guy in some corners, there were soldiers at the ready to make sure the world knew he was not just some nerd (as if they could help a hockey team). Player agent Todd Reynolds, whose firm, Uptown Sports Management, hired Dubas as a player agent when he was 21, told TSNs Jonas Siegel, "I dont think its all about analytics like people have wanted to make it out to be today. Hes not a computer nerd. Hes not sitting there crunching numbers and bringing sheets of paper into the GMs office with recommendations. Hes much more complete than that." Some people are really concerned that you dont think too highly of Dubas use of analytics. These are deeply-held notions in the hockey world, that stats guys must sit in front of a computer and print out sheets of recommendations without watching the games and applying that analysis. Keep in mind, there may not be anyone doing more watching of the games than guys involved in analytics, who are constantly finding new ways to look at the sport. This isnt a bad thing, particularly in a sport that, relatively, has been in the statistical stone age. So, why is Dubas considered a stats guy? Because that is a point of differentiation. He has scouted players, been an agent and a junior hockey GM, so he has made his hockey bones, but hes 28-years-old, so he hasnt necessarily seen as much hockey as veteran NHL executives. But, if you are looking for a difference -- beyond merely age -- that helps Dubas stand out, it is that he understands modern analytic concepts and there wasnt a lot of evidence, through many radio interviews last season, that Loiselle, Poulin or Nonis had a firm grasp on those matters. Shanahan, describing the interview process with Dubas, said, "I was learning things I didnt know and just wanted to learn more." This is a three-time Stanley Cup winner, a Hall of Famer who scored 656 career goals (ranking 13th all-time), who was not only learning about hockey from a 28-year-old who never played in the league but, much more importantly for the Maple Leafs, he was actually open to the idea! That the Maple Leafs havent seriously applied analytics to their management is one thing. Its another matter entirely to have effectively taken this approach without a real understanding of how analytics apply to the modern NHL game. Even Dubas acknowledged that this was an area in which Nonis was learning. What does it mean for the future of the Maple Leafs? Dubas is a 28-year-old Assistant GM, coming into a team that, barring trades, largely has its roster set for the 2014-2015 season, so its not like immediate results can or should be pinned on his hiring, but this is about changing the long-term direction of the franchise and doing so in a progressive way. Dubas presents a voice that should be different and, for a team that has reached the playoffs once in the past nine seasons, new voices need to be heard. Dubas has Shanahans ear and that should have some influence in the decisions that the Maple Leafs make going forward. While that could make for some uncomfortable times for GM Dave Nonis, considering this franchises track record, no one in the Leafs organization ought to feel too comfortable. Getting better is the goal, right? "I havent run the team in Sault St. Marie based solely on statistics," said Dubas. "Its been a good size part of what weve integrated in, but the rest of it is just hockey. Its evaluating players, scouting reports, dealing with the personalities on the team, trying to hire the best scouts and people. And certainly the analytics, Ive found it to be a major help to me personally in the way that I view the game and just create a better level of certainty to decisions." Thats what any team should be striving to achieve in their use of statistics and analytics. Stats arent everything. No one is suggesting to use statistics on their own, without anything else. You can still watch the games. Use the stats as a tool for evaluation and make better decisions. There probably arent a lot of analytics about hiring a 28-year-old Assistant GM, small samples and all that, but this decision by the Maple Leafs was smart. If theyre not careful, that could become a thing. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '