As anticipated, the Washington Redskins on Wednesday signed free agent quarterback Kent Graham, who will replace the deposed Jeff George on the roster.

Graham, 32, signed a one-year contract for the veteran minimum base salary of $477,000. He arrived in Washington on Tuesday night, driving there after being summoned for a workout, and his audition was said to be solid. Even had he been less than scintillating, however, the Redskins staff had made up its mind to bring in Graham and dump George.

Ironically, the 10th-year veteran is a pure pocket passer like George, a player who might have difficulty adapting to the three- and five-step drops inherent to the Redskins attack. Graham is expected to be the primary backup to new starter Tony Banks.

"I don't think it will take me that long to (assimilate) the offense," Graham said. "There is always a certain amount of stuff that is similar to everywhere else you've played. It's not rocket science."

Graham was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final roster cutdown earlier this month, and immediately began lobbying for the Redskins to sign him. He made no secret of his desire to join the team, even though Washington coach Marty Schottenheimer had claimed he was not interested.

Apparently the Redskins' 0-2 start, and Schottenheimer's distaste for George, changed the coach's mind.

The Redskins are the fifth different team for which Graham has played. He began his NFL career as an eighth-round choice of the New York Giants in the 1992 draft. He was released by the Giants in 1995 and signed with Detroit. After one season with the Lions, he went to Arizona for two years, then returned to the Giants in 1998.

The Giants released him for a second time last summer and Graham signed a three-year contract with Pittsburgh, where he was the Steelers' starter at the beginning of the 2000 campaign. He subsequently lost his starting job to Kordell Stewart, and then Pittsburgh released him this summer, in part for salary cap reasons.

For his career, Graham has appeared in 81 games and started 38 of them. He has 681 completions in 1,320 attempts, for 7,670 yards, with 37 touchdown passes and 33 interceptions. His career passer rating is 68.2.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.