Credit: Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images
By Ross Jackson
While the New Orleans Saints shuffle options at kicker, the team should be considering further changes to their special teams core.
Through Week 12, the Saints have one of the worst punting operations in the NFL. It may not be a spot the team intends to address before the year is over with only six games remaining on the schedule, but it’s certainly an area the Saints should be preparing to dig into during the offseason.
Punting may not put points on the board, but it can help to keep points off the table for the opposing team. The Saints have not been given that advantage throughout the 2025 season by punter Kai Kroeger.
Through Week 12, the Saints have the worst starting field position for opponents after punt returns. On average, the opposing offensive is starting at their own 28.8-yard-line. That’s nearly a four-yard drop from former punter Thomas Morstead’s last year in 2020 where opponents’ average was their own 24.1-yard-line. The Saints have seen four starting punters (including Kroeger) since then, and look to be headed towards a fifth come 2026.
Effectively, the team has been cycling through legs over the last few years trying to replace Morstead since his departure.
Average punt return yards isn’t all about the punter, of course. The Saints also surrender 12.6 yards per punt return in coverage, No. 22 in the NFL. But with so many returnable punts and only 7.9% of his kicks falling inside the 10-yard line (No. 29 among punters with at least 20 punts), the leg plays a large role.
It doesn’t stop there for Kroeger. He ranks dead last among the 32 punters with at least 20 punts this season in net yards per punt (36.1) and yards per punt (43.9) and is tied for No. 24 in punts inside the 20-yard-line with 13 of his 37 kicks doing so, despite only 13 of his punts coming from inside his own 30-yard-line.
The Saints will have to reconsider their evaluation of punters this offseason. The team’s last two options, Lou Hedley and Matthew Hayball, each won competitions in camp like Kroeger. However, neither has landed another job since departing from New Orleans. Going from winning jobs to not being able to secure your next opportunity doesn’t reflect kindly on the team’s decisions at the position over the years, and things don’t appear to be headed in the right direction this year.
While the Saints are making big changes at kicker, the punter role will need to also be re-evaluated. New Orleans should do so with both the position itself and the decision-making around it placed under a microscope.
