I have so, so many questions. The main one, of course, being how a professional athlete who followed up his second straight 10+ sack season by all-but-forcing his release from a $41 million dollar contract with organizational slander, domestic abuse charges (that were backed by video evidence), and enough character issues to make Hank Moody look like Phil Dunphy by comparison was able to avoid humility until now. Junior Galette went from going undrafted, to being (laughably, in hindsight) elected team captain, to getting cut, to spend ding two full seasons nursing career-altering injuries, to moderately contributing for the first since time since 2014, to scoffing at a multi-year deal that was worth well more than what he actually deserved. I guess I'm glad he ran into the reality check that is the lack of a paycheck, but how modesty didn't come close to crossing his mind until now is about as unfathomable as the fact that Drew Rosenhaus let him leave $10 million on the table while he was on an especially slippery downside of his tumultuous career. Junior Galette now has exponentially more NFL logos tatted on him than teams interested in him, but that was somehow predictable despite him possessing a skill set that's at a league-wide premium. Maybe it's just the scorned fan in me that had to sit idly by as the Saints spent years resurrecting themselves up from under the demons of dead dollars' past, but I'm pretty sure the last thing anyone wants to hear about is how grateful Junior Galette is. We're talking about a guy that was perhaps the league's longest standing unapologetic asshole. A player that showed zero appreciation for the God-given talent he had on the field by constantly pissing into the winds of the prosecution off of it. It just feels insanely disingenuous for him to try to bail from his wave of unabashed arrogance now that it's finally come crashing down on top of him. After compiling one more sack (3) than he did season-ending injury (2) throughout his three seasons in Washington, Junior Galette turned down a contract that was at least 2x as long and 3x as valuable as any other team would have offered. I'm of the opinion that a professional athlete is worth the max someone will pay them, but - considering the entirety of his past -it's impossible to view that negotiation as anything other than Junior Galette removing his belt and whipping a gift horse in the mouth. If nothing else, it's an indisputable sign that he learned absolutely nothing throughout one of the most up-and-down NFL careers that I can remember. So forgive me if I'm not ready to throw him a graduation party, as it's pretty clear he's only self-proclaiming his decency diploma in hopes that he'll finagle his way into another job after doing everything possible to get booted out of school.
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