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The Saints look ready to pull the plug on Martin Gramatica.
He’s played a big role in them losing two games. With him, they’re 2-3. With a more reliable kicker, they’d likely be 4-1. That should be enough to prompt the team to make a change prior to their game on Sunday.
Against Denver, Gramatica missed a late game-winning field goal in a 34-32 loss. Against Minnesota, he had a low kick blocked and returned for a touchdown, then missed a field goal that would have given the Saints a 30-27 lead late.
Sean Payton sounds like he’s seen enough. "We have a pretty good idea of who else is available. I'm not sure if Martin is 100 percent healthy right now, let alone whether he's my guy. So we'll see," says Payton in today’s edition of The Times-Picayune.
This article, written by Jeff Duncan, speculates that the Saints would be extremely interested in bringing back John Carney, who’s 12 for 12 with the Giants. New York likely will soon make a decision on its kicker. Carney has been solid on field goals, but Lawrence Tynes is a lot better on kickoffs. If Tynes is released, he also likely would interest the Saints.
Up here in the Northwest, the Seahawks are sitting on two quality kickers. Olindo Mare (who flopped in New Orleans) is playing well – accurate on field goals and a real weapon on kickoffs – and Seattle is also using a roster spot on rookie Brandon Coutu. Coutu doesn’t have quite the cannon leg as Mare, but he was very accurate on field goals in the preseason. The Seahawks obviously fear that if they tried to sneak him onto their practice squad, some other team would grab him.
Rookie free agents that might interest the Saints include Taylor Mehlhaff, their sixth-round pick who lost out to Gramatica in August, and Steven Hauschka, who worked behind Ryan Longwell in Minnesota in August.
—Ian Allan
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Posted by Brian Barrett | Oct. 08 at 10:48 AM
Hey Ian, how about an email update to subscribers as soon as the Saints find a PK? That's going to be valuable player if it's someone like Carney or Tynes but I don't have the roster space to speculate on someone who might not play. Thanks, Brian
Posted by IAN ALLAN | Oct. 08 at 10:56 AM
Looks like it's going to be Mehlhaff. He says he's going to sign with the team today.
Posted by IAN ALLAN | Oct. 08 at 10:59 AM
I don't, however, see Mehlhaff as a blue-chip fantasy prospect. Saints are very good in the red zone -- kind of the opposite of teams like the Vikings, Titans and Jaguars, who tend to set up their kickers for a lot of threes. And New Orleans' upcoming schedule isn't particularly appealing. They'll play Oakland on Sunday, which is fine. But then they're at Carolina, against the Chargers at Wembley, and a bye.