Rivera emphasizing culture change

Redskins’ coach chases turnaround via new ‘vision’

WASHINGTON — Ron Rivera made plenty of mistakes as a first-time NFL head coach that he hopes not to repeat this time.

Rivera also did enough good things early with Carolina in 2011 that he’s trying to duplicate now with Washington. The new Redskins coach took some big swings in free agency, but has so far been more focused on incremental additions and subtractions to change the culture within the organization and build for the future.

“We added pieces to the puzzle that we just felt that we needed: guys that are going to come in, guys that are hungry, they’re going to compete,” Rivera said. “We feel good about the young guys, and we feel good about some of the veteran guys. We feel it’s a good mix right now.”

Rivera reunited with linebacker Thomas Davis to give the locker room an example of how to play and behave. He signed safety Sean Davis, cornerback Ronald Darby, running back J.D. McKissic and tight end Logan Thomas, a former Virginia Tech quarterback, as players with something to prove.

All got one- or two-year deals.

“A lot of these come in and say, ‘Give me an opportunity to compete, prove myself and then we’ll see,’ which I think is great,” Rivera said. “I love the fact guys are betting on themselves and are going to come in and prove that they belong and they deserve an extensive contract. That’s what we’re trying to do, is (find) who fits us. And a lot of these guys were up for the challenge.”

Rivera released safety Montae Nicholson after two troubling off-field incidents the past two years. He traded disgruntled cornerback Quinton Dunbar to Seattle and could soon make a similar move with holdout left tackle Trent