The New Orleans Saints held a kicker competition this summer between veteran Wil Lutz and rookie Blake Grupe.
Grupe went 5-of-6 on field goal attempts and 1-of-1 on extra point attempts during preseason. Lutz went 4-of-4 on field goal attempts and 3-of-3 on extra point attempts. Grupe had a long of 50 yards and Lutz had a long of 51 yards.
They had a close competition, but ultimately, the Saints decided to stick with the rookie and they traded Lutz to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick.
After the trade, Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette asked Lutz’s agent, John Perla, about his client losing the Saints’ job to Grupe. Perla had a fiery response.
“He didn’t lose his job,” the agent told Tomasson. “The Saints just made a poor decision. The better player is not the one who is left on the Saints’ roster, I’ll tell you that.”
Fans in Denver will certainly hope that Perla is right. Lutz had a bit of a down year last season, ranking 32nd in field goal percentage (74.2%), but he played well under coach Sean Payton from 2016-2020.
In his career, Lutz has gone 165-of-195 on field goal attempts (84.6%) and 286-of-293 on extra point attempts (97.6%). Brandon McManus — the kicker Lutz is ultimately replacing — has career totals of 223-of-274 (81.4%) on field goals and 277-of-286 (96.9%) on extra point attempts.
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