Saints RFA G Tim Lelito Turns Down Offer From Cowboys, Likely To Remain In New Orleans

Saints restricted free agent G Tim Lelito says that he turned down an offer from the Cowboys and is likely to remain in New Orleans.

“You have to weigh your options and it’s a gamble,” Lelito explaied, via WWL. “So you can go somewhere else and be a backup for a couple years with less money or you can try to go into a one-year tender and do the best you can and hopefully come out with a little better contract after it.”

The Saints elected to use an original-pick tender on Lelito at the start of free agency that will pay him $1.671 million for the 2016 season. This also gives the Saints the right of first refusal for any offer he receives from another team.

Lelito, 26, signed on with the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of Grand Valley State back in 2013. Assuming he signs his tender, Lelito would be in position to test the open market as an unrestricted free agent next year.

In 2015, Lelito was active for 15 games for the Saints and was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 28 guard out of 81 qualifying players.