WASHINGTON — Washington Redskins first-round draft pick Brian Orakpo said he is transitioning smoothly to the professional game and also to a new position after organized team activities Tuesday at Redskins Park.

Expected to split time between strong-side linebacker and defensive end, Orakpo said he has been working to master schemes and to balance his responsibilities at both positions.
“I’m feeling the difference, but it is still football,” Orakpo said. “If you know what you’re doing, you can play fast. If you don’t, that’s when you kind of get left behind. But what I try to do is go in and know what I’m doing, study my playbook, study the plays that we put in that day and try to play fast.”

Second-year wide receiver Malcolm Kelly said he’s been running routes for a month, so in that sense, Tuesday’s organized team activities appearance wasn’t anything remarkable. He’s already been cutting on his knee — on which he had microfracture surgery this winter — and could have participated in last month’s minicamp and OTAs, although owner Daniel Snyder and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato told him to take his time.
Still, he said getting out on the field with his teammates felt considerably different than running routes by himself.
“It’s one thing to run against air; then when you have actual (defensive backs), it makes it a little more complicated,” Kelly said. “When I rolled out of bed this morning, I was like, `Man, this has been a long time coming.’ ... I was just anxious to go out there and run a route and feel the ball hit my hands.”

Tuesday marked Santana Moss’s 30th birthday — a benchmark in football that often indicates there are fewer years ahead of a player than behind him. Moss practiced during Tuesday’s OTAs as part of the wide receivers corps that included the return of Kelly from offseason surgery.
Moss exited the locker room after practice without the cornrows fans are accustomed to seeing.
“The season went so bad the second half, I was like, `Man, I’ll do something different. I’ll cut my hair to get all the bad funk off me,’ ” Moss said.

Players missing from Tuesday’s OTAs were cornerbacks Carlos Rogers (illness) and Kevin Barnes (flu), running back Clinton Portis, safety LaRon Landry, fullback Mike Sellers, linebacker London Fletcher and wide receiver James Thrash.