Reyes retires from the sport of football after only two years in the league. A former basketball player with dreams of playing in the NBA, Reyes applied for and was admitted into the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program out of Chile. Despite spending time with three teams, Reyes only suited up for regular season action in Washington, where he played 11 games, starting one. As a tight end, Reyes mostly made an impact on special teams during his career. He retires at the age of 27.
After three short seasons, Saints pass rusher Jabari Zuniga has chosen to hang up his cleats, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. It’s unclear for now as to why Zuniga is retiring, but after spending a good portion of his rookie year on injured reserve, health might have factored into the decision.
Zuniga came into the league with big expectations. After redshirting his true freshman year at Florida, Zuniga burst onto the scene, leading the Gators in sacks as a redshirt freshman. He never reached an elite level of play as a pass rusher, but over three and a half seasons in Gainesville, Zuniga racked up 18.5 sacks and 33.0 tackles for loss.
He entered his redshirt senior season as an All-SEC preseason pick and started the season on a strong note, but three games into the year, he suffered a high ankle sprain that would cause him to miss time throughout the rest of the season. The recurring ankle injury hurt his draft stock a bit, but the promise shown during a strong junior season helped him to still get drafted in the third round of the 2020 Draft by the Jets.
He started his rookie year on IR for New York as he dealt with a quadriceps injury. He finally made his NFL debut after seven weeks on IR, playing sparingly against the Chiefs. That minimal usage would continue throughout the rest of the season as he never logged more than 23 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in a game as a rookie.
The Saints liked enough of what they saw to sign Zuniga to a reserve/futures contract, keeping him on the roster for 2023. Instead, Zuniga made the decision to walk away from the game. It could be that the injuries he suffered lingered throughout the following seasons enough to keep him from ever reaching 100 percent. Regardless, he’s made his decision, and for now, his time in the league is over.
With the roster spot opened up by Zuniga’s departure, the Saints have signed offensive guard Koda Martin, according to Katherine Terrell of ESPN. Martin was waived earlier this week but will make his way back to camp to fill the vacancy formed by Zuniga’s retirement.
With a number of teams preparing for the start of training camp, a long list of players were placed on inactive lists today. We’ve compiled all of those and today’s other minor moves below:
Isaiah Wilson hasn’t had an NFL gig since he was released by the Giants in January of 2022. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweets that the free agent lineman was slapped with a three-game suspension, but it’s uncertain what led to the temporary ban. Wilson was a first-round pick by the Titans in 2020 but got into only one game with Tennessee before getting shipped off to Miami. He was waived by Miami after showing up late to his team physical, and his practice squad stint with New York only lasted one season.
Max Garcia is an experienced addition to the Saints OL room, with the veteran having most recently started seven of his 12 appearances with the Cardinals in 2022. The 31-year-old has 59 games of starting experience, although Pro Football Focus was iffy on his production last year (63rd among 77 qualifying offensive guards).
Following a three-year stint in Cleveland, Terrance Mitchell has spent the past two seasons bouncing around the NFL. He got into 14 games (13 starts) for the Texans in 2021, finishing with 60 tackles and 10 passes defended. He spent the 2022 season with the Titans, finishing with 39 tackles in 11 games (five starts). 49ers fifth-round pick Darrell Luter Jr. is set to miss some time with a knee injury, providing Mitchell with an opportunity during training camp.
Teams continue to sign players to reserve/futures contracts, allowing the organization to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players throughout the offseason. Here are the latest reserve/futures contracts:
