Ordinarily, a team signing a free agent to its practice squad would not merit much national attention. But Field Yates of ESPN tweets that the Saints have signed quarterback J.T. Barrett to their practice squad, and as Jeff Nowak of The Advocate observes (via Twitter), this marks the 13th time this season that New Orleans has signed Barrett. Nowak notes that Barrett has been involved in a whopping 25 transactions during the 2018 campaign and has been cut 12 times.
Barrett has yet to see any regular season action, but the fact that New Orleans keeps bringing him back can be construed as a positive. The former Ohio State signal-caller signed with the Saints in May after going undrafted, and he reportedly drew interest from several other clubs, including the Colts. New Orleans head coach Sean Payton had good things to say about him after he was signed the first time.
His overall athletic ability suggests that the Saints — or some other team — could deploy Barrett the way that Tayson Hill has been utilized this year, even if Barrett does not get a chance to serve as a primary signal-caller. He completed 63.5% of his passes over four years at Ohio State with 104 touchdowns against 30 picks, and he also ran for 43 scores while posting a 5.0 yards-per-carry mark.
In a corresponding move, the Saints cut wide receiver Paul Turner. The team signed Turner and cut Barrett just four days ago.
Well damn Saints!
I see this as Payton preparing for Pat Mahomes in the Super Bowl.
Breaking news tomorrow JT Barrett cut
Breaking news one hour later. JT Barrett resigned.
OMG! This is insane! I believe he signed a 3-year UDFA contract with them after the draft. I wonder if this is part of an understanding they have.
25 transactions? jeez. Who is this HOF practice squad QB thry replace him with each time?
They should put a limit on these transactions.
Wow! His agent cant find him other oppertunities than this? lol find a new agent. I dont know why he would let the saints do this to him especially this long. He’s a better QB than this!
He’s on a practice squad, a better opportunity would be to be on an active roster. Any team in the NFL is free to grab him free of charge and place him on their active roster…nobody has, so apparently this is the best out there for him and he’s not a better QB than this.
J.T. probably stands for “just testing” and he will have the opportunity to bounce around the AAF several times to break up the monotony in New Orleans.
Or go to Canada and light it up, play and stay fresh then make another run at the NFL.