The New Orleans Saints are taking an entirely new approach to their special teams unit this year, opting to go with proven veterans at all three spots, a changeup from the team’s recent history which has largely relied on the projection of undrafted rookies or incumbent players.
Since the Saints moved on from former punter Thomas Morstead in 2020 and former kicker Wil Lutz in 2022, they’ve been cycling through undrafted rookie punters like Blake Gillikin, Lou Hedley, Matthew Hayball and Kai Kroeger and did the same with kickers Blake Grupe and Charlie Smyth.
The only players from that list to see more than one year at the position were Gillikin (two years) and Grupe (three years). The potential for Smyth is still there, but he’ll now continue to develop on the practice squad, if the Saints are able to sign him back there, while turning to a veteran to be the Week 1 starter.
The Saints are set to start a pair of former Minnesota Vikings rookies, punter Ryan Wright and kicker Daniel Carlson. Carlson is more regarded for his eight seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders but was a fifth-round draft pick by Minnesota.
Both will provide the Saints multiple years of experience, eight for Carlson and four for Wright, at their positions and team up with long-time long snapper Zach Wood to form the specialists room.
Carlson has a career field goal percentage of 86.9% while Wright averages 42.5 net yards per punt. Both numbers would be improvements from last year’s averages.
