RICHMOND — Junior Galette, an outside linebacker who was released by the New Orleans Saints on Monday, was scheduled to meet with Washington Redskins executives on Thursday night, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Galette, 27, spent his first five years with the Saints and had a career-high 45 tackles with 10 sacks last season. Though he signed a four-year, $41.5 million contract extension in September, coach Sean Payton reportedly wanted to release Galette immediately after the season because of his personal issues, which include an arrest in January on allegations of domestic violence and the release in June of a two-year-old video which appears to show Galette beating another woman with a belt during a brawl.
The Saints had to wait to release Galette until Monday, when he was able to pass a physical following a pectoral injury sustained in a weight-room accident in early June. That person said that the Redskins were the only team in play for Galette; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were among the teams who were tentatively interested upon his release.
“We’re going to get a physical on him and then we’ll go from there,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. “We’ll get a chance to talk to him, and he’ll meet with Scot [McCloughan, the general manager] and he’ll meet with myself and we’ll make a determination on where we go from there.”
The 6-foot-2, 258-pound Galette would give the Redskins another proven pass rusher and help offer balance opposite Ryan Kerrigan, who signed a five-year, $57.5 million contract extension with the team on Wednesday. Trent Murphy, entering his second year, will be pushed by second-round draft pick Preston Smith, as well as Jackson Jeffcoat and Trevardo Williams, for that starting role.
A potential signing, though, could also inject Washington’s locker room with maturity and professionalism issues, which has been something that McCloughan has stated his preference to avoid. Even though Galette was voted a captain last season and spoke shortly thereafter about a need to remain humble, he later rankled teammates with his claims that the Saints’ lackluster defense was even better than the unit that helped the team win the Super Bowl following the 2009 season.
Born in Haiti, Galette attended Temple for three years, but chose to transfer after a cousin staying with him was connected with the theft of two laptop computers from a dorm. He transferred to Stillman, a Division II college, for his senior season.
“We’ve got to judge it on an individual basis, and that’s something that Scot and Bruce and myself, we’ll all talk about,” Gruden said. “Obviously, you know, he’s had some issues in the past, but we’d like to draw our own conclusions about every individual that we bring in this building, and we’ll go from there. But it’s very early right now. 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.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.