Junior Galette released, should the Jaguars take a look?

In one of the more surprising moves so far this offseason, the New Orleans Saints released pass rusher Junior Galette after a string of incidents off the field.

The #Saints are releasing Junior Galette, source said. They’ve paid him $18M since last year. Wow.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 24, 2015

Despite his solid production (10 sacks in 2014, 12 sacks in 2013), the Saints decided Galette’s troubles were too much and ended up taking the brunt of a massive contract.

Troubles aside, Galette is a talented pass rusher who will get looks from other teams. Gene Higginbotham, staff writer over at Big Easy Believer thinks the Jaguars are a possible landing spot:

"Fans watched as their team snagged one of the most coveted pass rushers in the 2015 NFL Draft in Dante Fowler Jr., only to see him tear his ACL in a simple drill at their first practice.It’s no doubt that the team is beyond being in “win now” mode if that’s possible and certain things like Galette’s behavior can be overlooked when that desperation grabs hold…The Jaguars have shown that money is no object(they actually re-signed Alualu to a 2-year, $6 million dollar contract this year) so they have the pockets and the need to sign Galette."

On the surface, it makes sense that the Jaguars would pursue a free agent pass rusher, especially one with such good production in recent years. Given the devastating injury to Fowler, the Jaguars don’t have much of a shot at improving their pass rush without adding another body.

Still, it doesn’t make much sense for the Jaguars to risk signing someone like Galette. Almost certainly faced with some type of suspension from the league, Galette would help improve the pass rush, but at what price? I don’t agree with Higginbotham’s assessment that the Jaguars are in “win now” mode either, as the Jaguars are looking more for overall progress than a certain win total.

If Greg Hardy can get a big contract then Galette will assuredly latch on with some team – that team just won’t be the Jaguars.

Next: Jags must show progress in 2014

More from Black and Teal

Home/Jacksonville Jaguars News