3 Saints players who won’t be on the roster after training camp

Saints roster cuts: Is Wil Lutz expendable?

The easy answer here is yes. Lutz is coming off the worst season of his career, as he made just 74.2 percent of his kicks. That’s…not great, especially when it’s paired with some competition from rookie Blake Grupe.

Grupe is in his first season out of Notre Dame, and while he’s a bit of an unknown right now (and kickers are always fragile as rookies especially), can he be worst than 74.2 percent? I’m gonna go with a resounding no.

Grupe made 12 of 14 kicks at Notre Dame’s Pro Day, which included makes from 57 and 61 yards. That was enough to get the Saints attention, and a contract. It helps that Lutz is in the final year of his contract and cutting him would save New Orleans over $1 million. That may not seem like much money, but you can expect New Orleans to use some of that cash on depth at more important positions.

New Orleans special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi as well as Dennis Allen have said the kicker spot will be an open competition this summer.

“Last year obviously was eye-opening for me, going through that type of adversity,” Lutz said. “Last year forced me to restart with a beginner’s mentality and figure out what’s going on and get back to the drawing board with it all.”

It didn’t help that Lutz missed a full season due to COVID.

“When you miss a full year it’s a deer in the headlights in week one,” Lutz said. “It kind of felt like my rookie year again. I just couldn’t really get my legs under me and it’s unfortunate, but the 2022 season is under my name and it’s my job to bounce back.”

Excuses or not, the Wil Lutz nightmare may soon be over, Saints fans.