The Saints cut a player 10 months after giving him a $41 million contract, and the aftermath is getting ugly
According to a story by Katherine Terrell in the Times-Picayune, the Saints were willing to swallow close to $18 million and lose their leading pass-rusher because of problems both on and off the football field.
After signing his contract extension, Galette lost the respect of coaches and players around him because of a poor attitude, Terrell reports. Although he was named one of the team's captains, last year during a preseason game he allegedly got in a fist-fight with teammate Brandon Deaderick. Sources told Terrell the two had another locker room altercation after the team's loss to the San Francisco 49ers in November.
Galette has also been involved in two domestic violence-related scandals. In June a leaked video from 2013 allegedly showed him hitting a woman with a belt on a beach in Miami. In February domestic violence charges against him were dropped in a separate incident.
As David Grunfeld of Nola.com aptly put it, "In the end, the Saints wanted Galette gone badly enough they essentially paid to get rid of him."
Normally, these stories end when the player is released. But the aftermath of Galette's dismissal has gone totally off the rails.
First, in that same Times-Picayune story, Galette called the Saints' decision "the worst call they've ever made." On Sunday night, someone apparently took to his girlfriend's Twitter account to rant about Saints head coach Sean Payton, other members of the Saints, and the organization as a whole.
The tweets have since been deleted, but Canal Street Chronicle has screenshots of the entire episode, and a reddit user PaySayJack compiled a summary of the diatribe, which includes allegations about everything from drug use to infidelity to coaching tactics.
Galette has since denied using his girlfriend's Twitter to bash the Saints, saying he hasn't used Twitter since January. Despite that denial, Saints defensive end Will Smith responded, calling Galette a #loser4life:
We've reached out to Galette's management company for comment, and we'll update this post when we hear back.