Dallin Holker was waived by the New Orleans Saints Tuesday morning and decided to step away from football altogether before sunset. With all of the buzz around Tyrann Mathieu stepping away from football, it was easy to miss Holker being waived by the team.
The tight end's decision to step away from the team generated a little bit more noise than him being waived. For some, this may be a two birds, one stone type of story.
Holker was entering his second year in the NFL. The Saints signed Holker as a tight end as an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State a year ago. He was active for 12 games, but he only caught three passes, two of which came in the season finale.
Dallin Holker seemed to have a path to the roster before Tuesday
It was a bit surprising to see Holker be waived, because the opportunity for him to make the roster seemed open. There was always a chance New Orleans would have brought him right back. That tends to happen in the offseason as moves are made to free up space for other additions.
Waiving Holker and Mathieu's retirement likely made room for Jonathan Bullard and Tyler Shough signing contracts. Those are the only new, recent additions the Saints had made.
Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau are starting training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list (PUP.) This means less bodies in the tight end room. At worst, Holker could have been a body until those guys returned. Once he was waived, that certainly contributed to his decision to retire.
The Saints obviously still have Juwan Johnson at the top of the room. Behind him is Jack Stoll, Moloki Matavao, Michael Jacobson, Seth Green and Treyton Welch. It's one of the more shallow rooms in its current state.