Saints RT Zach Strief Says He’ll Retire If Team Moves On

Saints veteran RT Zach Strief said he has no interest in playing for another team next year, and would instead retire if New Orleans moved on.

“No. (I’d be) done,” Strief said, via ESPN.com. “You can’t say that, I guess, but my assumption would be that no, I’m not playing anywhere else.”

Strief added that he isn’t playing the game for the money.

“I feel like, for me personally, I’m happier saying that I only played for this team,” said Strief. “You get to a point where it’s like ‘well, what are you playing for?’ And at this point in my career I’m not playing for money. I’m not gonna go somewhere just to make another (unspecified amount).

“To me, it’s more beneficial since I’m going to stay here and I’m going to live here to say, ‘No, I refuse to play for anyone else but the Saints.”

There has been talk that Strief could end up being a cap casualty this year, seeing as the Saints will need to create some cap space to make roster changes.

Strief, 32, is in the second year of his five-year, $20.5 million contract that included $8.5 million guaranteed. He’ll make a base salary of $2 million this season to go along with $1 million another  in 2016.

According to OverTheCap.com, releasing would free up $3.3 million in cap space and create $1 million in dead money.

This season, Strief has appeared in 14 games for the Saints and is rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 21 offensive tackle out of 75 qualifying players.