Saints release special teams ace J.T. Gray

Saints let go another long tenured member of the team.

Kellen Moore announced the Saints have released J.T. Gray. The seven-year veteran signed with the Saints as an UDFA in 2018 and went on to become a core special teamer and earning a 1st team All-Pro in 2021, and 2nd team All=Pro in 2019 and 2024.

"We released J.T. Gray which was one of the hardest things so far this year. He's a really good ST's player, a really good player, he's done a lot of things here, it was a really challenging decision we had to make," said Kellen Moore

Gray's release comes in the final year of a three-year contract extension he signed in 2023 where he had a cap hit of 3.5mil, ranking 17th on the 2025 roster just behind guys like Justin Reid and Nathan Shepherd, while ahead of players like Bryan Bresee, Justin Blackmon, Kool-Aid McKinstry, and Davon Godchaux.

It appears contribution expectations vs pay didn't line-up.

While obviously a difficult decision, it makes sense on a roster that's gotten increasingly youthful overnight as the Saints are clearly looking to invest in developing younger cheaper talent.

Gray won't be on the market long as the expectations are that he'll join his former head coach Sean Payton and special teams coach Darren Rizzi in Denver.