CLEVELAND Browns sign free agent nose tackle

14-year veteran Ted Washington is the team's fifth new addition.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Browns signed huge nose tackle Ted Washington to a two-year contract on Monday to bolster the team's run defense.
The 14-year veteran -- 6-foot-5 and 365 pounds -- recently was released by the Oakland Raiders for salary cap reasons. He also has played with San Francisco, Denver, Buffalo, Chicago and spent a season with Browns coach Romeo Crennel in New England.
Washington, who will turn 38 on April 13, is one of the league's premier run stuffers.
"When he decides not to be blocked, he still can't be blocked," said his agent, Angelo Wright.
Four-time Pro Bowl pick
A four-time Pro Bowl pick, Washington was let go before the Raiders had to pay him $4.74 million for next season.
Wright said the Dolphins, Ravens, Panthers and Jets expressed an interest in Washington but he chose Cleveland because of the Crennel connection.
"We talked about it my last year in New England, about him becoming a head coach," Washington said. "And I said, 'Well if you get a head coaching job and I'm still around, I want to be a part of it.'
"I wanted to be somewhere I felt comfortable. I know what it takes to run a defensive front and I know where he's going with this. Cleveland was No. 1. I was pushing my agent to make sure to give the Browns the first dibs on me coming there before I took a trip anywhere else."
The signing is the fifth for the Browns since the first day of free agency on Saturday and the first on defense.
"This is an area we talked about constantly since we got here last year, and that was to try to build a run defense and improve our run defense," said Browns general manager Phil Savage. "The guy we've signed is one of the all-time great nose tackles."