Former Saints OLB Galette Signs With Redskins

Well there were some that didn’t think it would happen but it’s official that former New Orleans Saints linebacker Junior Galette is now a member of the Washington Redskins.

It was announced that he has signed a one-year deal with the team according to his agent.

Galette, a native of Haiti began his career with the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of Stillman college in 2010.

Originally he was enrolled at Temple University but due to what he called “boneheaded mistakes“, he had to transfer to Stillman due to a suspension.

At first Galette looked like he could be one of the hidden gems that the Saints were so famous for finding especially at the undrafted free agent level.

Galette fought his way onto the roster to earn a spot and went from being a situational player to the Saints go-to pass rusher.

Dec 29, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints outside linebacker Junior Galette (93) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.The Saints defeated the Buccaneers 42-17. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

After only playing in four games his rookie year, he saw an increased role in 2011 and registered 4.5 sacks.

He followed that up in 2012 with five sacks and a forced fumble while only appearing in 12 games, but 2013 would be the year Galette would shine.

Before that season started he had already endeared himself with fans for what seemed to be a lighthearted personality and unlike some athletes would engage with his fans on social media.

Little did we know that would be a foreshadowing of events to come…

Hashtags of #FearTheBeard and #Bodybags became associated with Galette and they fit very appropriately.

Under Rob Ryan’s new defense, Galette would have the best year of his career with 40 tackles, one forced fumble and a whopping 12 sacks.

It would go on to earn him a contract that would be what he called the “best week of his life”, but haunt the Saints front office for years to come.

Galette was given a 4-year, $41.5 million dollar extension on the eve of the regular season in September of last year which at the time seem well deserved.

But the team struggled as whole in 2014 and while Galette ended up with 10 sacks that year, the Saints began using him strictly in pass rushing situations since his ability to stop the run became his Achilles heel.

As the team suffered a 7-9 season, Galette made remarks concerning everyone questioning the defense and it started the slow crack developing between him and the organization.

Galette remarked that he felt that their defense at the time was better than the previous years when they had such household names as defensive end Will Smith, linebacker Jonathan Vilma, and safety Malcolm Jenkins.

This caused a rift to develop not only with the former players but with head coach Sean Payton who likes keeping things in-house.

Dec 28, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton walks on the sidelines as the New Orleans Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2014 season over, Galette’s reputation spiraled downward after an arrest for an alleged domestic abuse case that was eventually dismissed.

Shortly afterwards his cousin was arrested with narcotics in Galette’s vehicle which the pass rusher had to go retrieve.

Galette then suffered a pectoral injury before OTA’s which was thought to require surgery but ended up doing rehabilitation for it instead.

Shortly after, Galette was shown in a video spoofing his pec injury but the next video would eventually sink his career as a Saint.

The Saints discovered a video that allegedly showed someone believed to be Galette that was involved in a beach skirmish in 2013 where this individual struck a woman several times with a belt.

Galette stated that the Saints had told him they were going to put him on injured reserve, which he balked at saying he was healthy.

Aug 3, 2013; Metairie, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints linebacker Junior Galette (93) following a scrimmage at the team training facility. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The outspoken player sealed his fate with these words, “Play me or cut me”.

Of course the Saints did just that on July 24th and inherited close to a reported $16 million dollars in dead money for the next few seasons.

Due to an Twitter rant that many fans thought was orchestrated by Galette (but not proven to be), Galette’s options looked slim for teams wanting to sign him.

There’s also the issue of a possible suspension coming down due to the domestic case involving him as well as the NFL still investigating the video of the beach brawl.

But the Redskins have decided to take a chance on him and in a press conference addressing the early interest in Galette head coach Jay Gruden was reported by CSNWahington.com as saying:

"“We judge it on an individual basis.  Obviously, he’s had some issues in the past but we like to draw our own conclusions about every individual that we bring in to this building, and we’ll go from there. It’s very early right now, and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him at all. So until I do, I won’t draw any conclusions on what’s happened to him in the past.”"

As mentioned in a previous article about the Redskins wanting to possibly sign Galette, he would likely be placed in a rotation on the right side of the defensive line with Trent Murphy and rookie Preston Smith.

Next: Why The Saints WON'T Miss Junior Galette (And His Name is Kikaha)