Saints impending free agent DE Alex Okafor told reporters on Wednesday that he wants to be back in New Orleans next year.
“I want to be back here,” Okafor said, via Josh Katzenstein of Nola.com. “I was having a great year before I got hurt, and I just want to continue that.”
Okafor’s 2017 season ended after he suffered a torn Achilles in Week 11’s game and was later placed on injured reserve.
While it was obviously a disappointing end to what had been a very promising year for him, Okafor says he’s focused on getting back to 100 percent and everything else will take care of itself.
“At this point, I just got to get 100 percent, man,” Okafor said. “If I can come back 100 percent, then I know everything will take care of itself because I’ve proven that I can play, I’ve proven that I have a place on this team and I just got to get back to where I was.”
Okafor, 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Cardinals back in 2013. He played out the final year of his four-year, $2.634 million rookie contract that included a base salary of $675,000 for the 2016 season when he signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Saints during the offseason.
In 2017, Okafor 10 games and recorded 43 tackles, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and four pass defenses for the Saints. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 16 edge rusher out of 111 qualifying players.
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