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Junior Had to Go
By Mike Detillier
It was inevitable, the New Orleans Saints would have to part ways with outside linebacker Junior Galette and in quick fashion. Most of us thought that due to the salary cap implications Galette would be a 2015 one-year stay, but Saints head coach Sean Payton had enough of Galette's immaturity off the field and his lack of high level production and focus on the field.
I have written and spoken about this often after the Saints gave Galette a 4-year, $41.5 million dollar deal last year that it was a huge mistake to give Galette this mega-deal.
Numerous players and some coaches on the squad were quick to point out in private that Galette stayed focused just long enough to get paid and he would be a "problem child" for the team.
When you are given that type of deal you can't be an average or good player, but a high level one and Galette was not that type football player.
Was he the best pass rusher the Saints had? Yes, he was, but he was not going up against any heavyweight champions in that category for the Black and Gold. But over the past two seasons Galette has registered 22 quarterback sacks and those are good numbers, but not great ones.
On this personnel decision the Saints, Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis blew it. But Galette made the mortal mistake to really get under the skin of "The Boss" with the Saints and that is Sean Payton and he was not letting him back in the locker-room.
Like some pro athletes today Galette seemed miffed about the money others were making and he became a locker-room distraction with his antics with teammates and his off the field issues. Those issues mounted after he was arrested in January on a domestic violence charge and then a video pops up with Galette striking a woman with a belt.
But the issues had started long before those incidents and the Saints were trying to trade him, but no team in their right mind would take that contract the Saints gave him and put it in their budget.
Galette can play and he is a good pass rusher, but when opposing teams needed yardage when rushing the football they targeted Galette's side.
In the NFL Galette is a one-trick pass rush pony and he will play again in the NFL and be rest assured there will be a number of teams interested in him once he officially gets released by the New Orleans Saints.
One AFC defensive coordinator, and he coaches for a team with more than a passing interest in Galette, had this to say about the mercurial edge rusher.
"We are looking into the details of his off the field activities, the AFC defensive coordinator said. He's got some talent as a pass rusher, no question about it. Some will say he got a lot of those sacks in the fourth quarter, but many top edge pass rushers get them in the fourth quarter too. Offensive tackles wear down during games and the good ones and really great ones take advantage of huge men on the field 70 to 75 plays per game. Galette is a pretty good edge rusher. He gets up the field quick and he has good closing speed. But he is lost in run defense. Watch the Carolina games and watch how Cam Newton, when running those option type plays, takes advantage of him not getting in good position and he pulls himself off the mark. For the right price, I would want him. But those off the field antics are disturbing to me. It just amazes me how immature some of these young players are today. They don't handle their business right off the field. That bothers me as a coach because we preach to them about it, but as soon as they leave the locker-room and they get around their pals away from the game all hell breaks loose. If you hang around immature folks you will act immature just like them. If you hang around people who are self-centered you will become self-centered. Hang around good people and things work out right. Junior Galette can play and he has a niche as a designated pass rusher, but no team will break the bank on him like the Saints did. Mickey (Loomis) missed big when he gave him that contract and Sean (Payton) approves what is happening personnel wise on that team so everyone is to blame and this is not a perfect business. You miss sometimes, but I was shocked the Saints after one big season gave him that sort of deal. I like him as a player, but I don't love him as a player and those immature traits don't go away overnight."
In a laughing tone the AFC defensive coordinator added, "If Galette signs with the (New England) Patriots I will puke. But he is a player that the Patriots have had some success with. No one gets those type players focused for a year or two better than Bill (Belichick). I don't know if they have an interest or not, but Junior Galette can help any of the 31 other teams in the NFL due to his pass rush skills and the Saints lose a pretty solid player for them. The kid from Washington (Hau'oli Kikaha) had better come through big for them. I agree with you that Anthony Spencer can't stay healthy and he was only a one-year pass rusher in his prime. But sometimes as a coach and as an organization you have to kick a guy like that in the pants and show him the door. Pro football is hard enough without having a constant distraction in the locker-room and off the field."
The financial hit on releasing Galette now is $5.45 million in 2015 and a whopping $12.1 million in 2016.
Yikes.
But Sean Payton is trying to get everyone's attention after a very disappointing 2014 season. No one at this time last year thought the Saints would go 7-9 and most thought they would be Super Bowl contenders.
You can point toward a lack of leadership in the locker-room, distractions off the field, some personnel issues and complacency due to past success, but what I saw was a team unfocused, getting older and not finishing games like they did in the past and maybe some of that was due to some more worried about their social life than being a professional.
It doesn't take many to spoil the football barrel and there were obvious personnel holes at cornerback, offensive center, a lack of a return game until very late in the year and below average production along the offensive and defensive lines, but something else was missing from the 2014 version of the New Orleans Saints.
In many spots the Saints who had played with heart and passion in the past under Payton seemed to lose that "fight in the dog mentality" and changes had to be made.
But now you can't turn over the entire roster and bring in veterans and so the Saints coaching staff will have to strike another rookie and young man football gusher in rookies like Andrus Peat, Stephone Anthony, Hau'oli Kikaha, P.J. Williams, Damian Swann, Tyeler Davison, Marcus Murphy and Delvin Breaux and hope that veterans like C.J. Spiller, Max Unger, Kevin Williams and Brandon Browner can give this football team big time production and also promote chemistry on the squad.
But at this moment Junior Galette, money or not, had to go. It was the right decision and for the Saints, the only choice Junior Galette gave them.
Verbal Commitments and Transfers
Saturday afternoon LSU received a verbal commitment from East St. John High School wide receiver Da'Monte Coxie. The 6-2' , 185 pounder has sure hands, great length, catches the ball very well away from his body and he is a double-tough performer out on the field. Coxie is no speed-burner by any stretch of the imagination, but he has the skillset to put his big body between the ball and the defender. And his coaches at East St. John High School rave about his work ethic and dedication to the sport. I have watched Coxie quite a bit over the past few seasons and he has really upgraded his route-running skills and his ability to get into and out of his cuts and breaks smoothly. In many ways Coxie reminds me of former Louisiana Tech and current San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Quinton Patton.
After watching Thibodaux High School cornerback/halfback Amik Robertson at the LSU 7-on-7 tournament, Tulane University offered the 5-9, 170 pounder a football scholarship for 2017. Robertson's speed, quickness, 31-inch vertical leap and the ability to break hard to the football will have plenty schools across the nation after him before he graduates. College coaches believe strongly that Robertson will play cornerback at the next level.
Former Destrehan High School quarterback Donovan Isom announced on Twitter he was transferring from Utah to Southeastern (LA.). The 6-3-, 240 pounder redshirted last season at Utah and he will be immediately eligible to play for the Lions. Lions head coach Ron Roberts hit football "paydirt" getting Bryan Bennett to transfer from Oregon to Southeastern when he lost out on the starting spot to 2014 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Marcus Mariota and he helped put Southeastern's program back on the football map over the past two seasons. Isom is a terrific athlete with great size and a rocket for an arm. Utah offensive coaches told me they worked quite a bit with Isom on his footwork and set-up skills in the spring and he became a more accurate short to intermediate range passer. Isom's accuracy skills had been on and off in practice sessions with the Utes as a freshman and in the spring of 2015. Many teams recruited Isom out of Destrehan as a tight end, but Southeastern (LA.) will give Isom a shot to win the quarterback slot. Just last month a fire destroyed the family home of Isom.
Mike D's Top 32 Prospects for the 2016 NFL Draft
1. Christian Hackenberg - Quarterback, Penn State
2. Jared Goff - Quarterback, California
3. Joey Bosa - Defensive End, Ohio State
4. Vernon Hargreaves III - Cornerback, Florida
5. Laremy Tunsil - Offensive Tackle, Ole Miss
6. Ronnie Stanley - Offensive Tackle, Notre Dame
7. Myles Jack - Outside Linebacker, UCLA
8. Robert Nkemdichen- Defensive Tackle, Ole Miss
9. Kendall Fuller - Cornerback, Virginia Tech
10. Jalen Ramsey - Safety, Florida State
11. Shawn Robinson - Defensive Tackle, Alabama
12. Tyler Boyd - Wide Receiver, Pittsburgh
13. Leonard Floyd - Outside Linebacker, Georgia
14. Shilique Calhoun - Defensive End, Michigan State
15. Tre'Davious White - Cornerback, LSU
16. Connor Cook - Quarterback, Michigan State
17. D'haquille "Duker" Williams - Wide Receiver, Auburn
18. Spencer Drango - Offensive Tackle, Baylor
19. Jaylon Smith - Inside Linebacker, Notre Dame
20. Emmanuel Ogbah - Defensive End, Oklahoma State
21. DeForest Buckner - Defensive End/Tackle, Oregon
22. Shawn Oakman - Defensive End, Baylor
23. Laquon Treadwell - Wide Receiver, Ole Miss
24. Ezekiel Elliott - Halfback, Ohio State
25. Taylor Decker - Offensive Tackle, Ohio State
26. Tony Conner - Safety, Ole Miss
27. Su'a Cravens - Safety, USC
28. Derrick Henry - Halfback, Alabama
29. Travin Dural - Wide Receiver, LSU
30. Cameron Sutton - Cornerback, Tennessee
31. DeMarcus Robinson - Wide Receiver, Florida
32. Cardale Jones - Quarterback, Ohio State
Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeDetillier