Redskins head coach Jay Gruden on Thursday confirmed linebacker Junior Galette tore his left Achilles during Wednesday's practice, and will be out for the year.*

Junior Galette was signed July 31 to bring an extremely intense pass rusher opposite of Ryan Kerrigan to the Redskins' defense.

But the sixth-year pro's promising first season with the Redskins was cut short during Wednesday's practice, when he suffered a torn left Achilles – an injury that will keep him out for the entire season.

Redskins head coach Jay Gruden confirmed the diagnosis on Thursday.

"He was practicing excellent out here and we know what type of energy he brought to this football team in the short time that he was here and were all fired up about the pass rush ability that he had," Gruden said.

Galette, a sixth-year pro out of Stillman, signed with the Redskins July 31 after spending the first five seasons of his career with the New Orleans Saints.

After combining for 22 sacks in the past two seasons, Galette was being looked upon to form an elite pass rush duo with Kerrigan, who had a career-best 13.5 sacks and led the NFL in forced fumbles a year ago.

Redskins linebacker Will Compton said after Wednesday's practice that Galette "brought a lot of energy" to the defense in the four weeks he was with the team.

"Junior, he was playing well," Compton said. "Everybody was excited about him. He was hustling around everywhere, bringing good energy and all that stuff. It's unfortunate."

The Redskins immediately turn to youth to replace Galette, who was set to make his Redskins debut Saturday in their 2015 Preseason Week 3 matchup against the Ravens in Baltimore.

Already established at the position is second-year linebacker Trent Murphy, who played in 15 games with eight starts in his rookie season in 2014. The team also selected Preston Smith out of Mississippi State in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft, who is currently leading the Redskins with 12 preseason tackles through two games.

"We have been force feeding Preston, and Trent Murphy's got a ton of work the last couple years both in OTAs, off season program, all that stuff, so we feel about those guys being ready to play," Gruden said. "I feel good about moving forward with Trent and Preston."

Also at the outside linebacker position for the Redskins are Jackson Jeffcoat, Houston Bates (who has a team-best three sacks so far this preseason) and Sage Harrold.

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