After another unsuccessful year in a new region, VALORANT star Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker is hunting for a new team to call home after losing his starting position on Bleed Esports.
The organization announced it would be restructuring a majority of its VALORANT roster, and as a result, four of the five players on the starting roster have been removed and will become restricted free agents for 2025. Along with yay, Deryeon, Retla, and Zest are now RFAs, meaning they’ll also need to find a new team for next year.
When yay was announced as the newest member of Bleed at the end of 2023, fans were excited to see how the superstar would fare among fresh competition while also leaving behind the “financial drama” he faced in North America. Since then, however, El Diablo has only seen more difficulties on and off-stage.
Yay kicked off his stint with Bleed Esports by going on a horrendous loss streak, before finally winning a series against DetonatioN FocusMe. Besides that victory, the team’s performance left a lot to be desired across 2024, finishing with only two series wins across the entire competitive year.
It was a disappointing end to a new beginning for yay, who also dealt with drama when he was accused of bribing his coach on DSG to bench former teammate Genghsta. Although these allegations were never completely confirmed, they provided another sizable dip for yay’s roller coaster of a career thus far.
Ultimately, yay will remain on Bleed’s inactive roster until another team comes along who is willing to take a chance on him again. Granted, yay has always shown flashes of his former greatness on stage, but he will need a ton of support if he decides to return to NA or try his luck in another region.
