Former Saints LB Junior Galette Gets in More Trouble AGAIN
The hits keep on coming for former New Orleans Saints outside linebacker Junior Galette who can’t seem to shake controversy.
The recent release of Galette by the Saints is said to have stemmed from off the field issues culminating with a beach brawl video from 2013 where the pass rusher alleged to have struck a woman with a belt.
According to a report by TMZ.com, the move to get rid of him seems to be more and more of a preemptive strike by the Saints, and a smart one at that.
In the report Galette was said to have been pulled over by law enforcement on July 7th “in Louisiana”(presumably for speeding) and the situation got worse.
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During the stop the police noticed that he was apparently driving with a suspended license and then noticed that he also failed to have “proper tags” for his vehicle.
All in all Galette was charged with a total of three misdemeanor offenses during the traffic stop.
A hearing date is said to be set for August 10th which TMZ says is “the same day he has a hearing in a civil case filed by a woman who accused him of domestic violence.”
Sep 22, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints outside linebacker Junior Galette (93) against the Arizona Cardinals before a game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints defeated the Cardinals 31-7. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Ouch…not a good month, or actually, not a good past six months for the frequently outspoken player.
As the days tick by it seems the Saints knew what they were doing even though they ultimately were somewhat scorned for having to eat the big contract they gave Galette just under a year ago.
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Galette was thought to likely be a sought after candidate on the free agent market following his release, but teams are probably putting the phone down as more layers of the onion are revealed.
Another anvil hanging over Galette, as well as his potential status with other teams, is that there is no official word on if he’ll face a suspension or not for either the domestic case he was involved in or the infamous video.
While Junior originally protested that it wasn’t him in the video, the Saints front office felt strongly enough to go ahead and send it to NFL investigators.
Oct 19, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Lions defeated the Saints 24-23. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
It’s quite possible that the Saints also got wind of more off the field issues such as the recent traffic violations and decided enough was enough.
Head coach Sean Payton told ProFootballTalk.com in a recent interview that he felt as if he had “failed” when it came to Galette having to be released.
He also mentioned that there was a vision designed for Galette from the time he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2010 as well as when he was signed to his big 4-year, $41.5 million dollar contract in 2014.
When it comes to vision, nobody saw this much trouble coming for him all at once for the once fabled “Sackman”.
If this keeps up, Galette may end up putting his own career in some “Bodybags”….