Junior Galette Released by Saints
In a video taken in 2013, New Orleans Saints linebacker, Junior Galette was allegedly captured beating a woman with a belt on a Miami beach. According to NOLA.com, the altercation shows Galette fighting multiple people, including the woman. The video went unnoticed until recently, when the Saints were made aware of its existence and submitted it to the NFL, per protocols.
Several close up images claiming to be of Galette were tweeted at the time of the altercation. However, Galette’s attorney denied that the man in the uploaded video was his client. According to several tweets from reporter Lyons Yellin of WWL-TV, the Saints had been contemplating the incident for some time and exploring all options after the beach video surfaced.
The #saints have just released Junior Galette.
— Lyons Yellin (@LyonsYellin) July 24, 2015
The saints have been mulling this over for a while and exploring all their options after beach video of what looked like galette surfaced.
— Lyons Yellin (@LyonsYellin) July 24, 2015
NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that Junior Galette recently met with NFL officials, who are currently looking into two of the off-field incidents. The other incident was in regards to an arrest this offseason relating to domestic violence, the charges were later dropped.
Last September, Galette signed a six-year deal with the Saints, which has seen him received more than $17 million to date. He had missed most of the organized team activities and all of mini-camp this summer due to a pectoral injury. The Saints are not out of the woods yet, as the financial ramifications of his release could carry as much as $12 million in “dead money.” The Saints still have to account for $12.5 million in any roster or original signing bonuses, but by releasing him, the team will only have to take a $5.45 million cap charge in 2015.
Galette believes that the release was a “terrible call to kick someone when they’re down”. He proceeded to declare head coach Sean Payton as the trigger-man on his release.
The Saints have not commented on the decision to release Galette or have given a clear-cut reason as to why he was released. Galette, who turned 27 in March, spent his entire NFL career with the Saints after being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2010. The team will have to look for help with pass rushing as they are now relying on two rookies, Hau’oli Kikaha and Ronald Powell to develop into starting caliber players.
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