Tag: matthew hayball

Saints’ special teams was a tale of two halves vs. Giants

Special teams had their worst half of the season against the GIants, as described by Darren Rizzi. Then, they made the play of the day to close out the game:

Special teams is Darren Rizzi’s bread and butter, and it stood out for the majority of the New Orleans Saints’ Week 14 matchup against New York Giants. But the game’s third phase was in the spotlight for both good and bad reasons.

The two most notable moments on special teams were Rizzi letting loose on Matthew Hayball and Bryan Bresee leaping over the Giants’ blockers to block a game-tying field goals.

The stark contradiction between those moments is a good representation in the difference between each half of play.

Rizzi was extremely disappointed in the way his unit performed at the beginning of the game. “Our special teams had one of, maybe the worst half of the year in the first half.”

Things changed in quarters three and four. “We turned around and made some plays there in the second half. It’s kind of ironic that we ended up winning the game on a special teams play because we were having one of our worst days in recent memory.”

That improvement is highlighted by Bresee’s phenomenal play, but Hayball redeemed himself with two, much more successful, punts later in the game.

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Surprising Saints rookie leads his position group in NFC Pro Bowl votes

After the first week of Pro Bowl voting, it’s New Orleans Saints rookie punter Matthew Hayball ahead of his peers in the NFC:

With the start of the 2025 Pro Bowl voting starting officially just week ago, we have received our first update on the current leaders of each position group in the league. You can cast your vote here.

As the New Orleans Saints have fallen apart with many injuries sustained over the course of the year, it was highly unlikely that they’d have any Pro Bowl players let alone a top vote-getter.

Turns out, that just might not be the case. Undrafted rookie punter Matthew Hayball currently leads the NFC in Pro Bowl votes at his position. Quite a pleasant surprise, isn’t it?

For those who may not know, Hayball is currently first in the NFC with 29 punts pinned inside the 20. That’s eight more than the next-closest player.

Diving a little bit deeper into the statistics, one may say that Hayball has punted 50 times this season tying him for third most the conference. However, in comparison to the punters’ ahead of him in this category, Hayball has been far more efficient in terms of forcing opponents into poor field position.

Hayball also ranks in the top five in total punt yardage and touchbacks but for the most part is somewhere between average and the bottom of the conference elsewhere. This is likely indicative of Hayball not having the biggest leg but makes up for it with his ability to accurately place his kicks.

Credit to special teams guru, now head coach Darren Rizzi, as well as the teams scouting department for locating Hayball this offseason. The Saints potentially have their long term solution at the punter position, after years of searching for Thomas Morstead replacement, a former franchise hero and Super Bowl XLIV champion.

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Saints rookie has been one of the best punters in this key stat

There isn’t a punter who has placed more tries inside the 20-yard line than Matthew Hayball through 11 games. The Saints rookie has been one of the NFL’s best in this stat:

In his first year in the league, New Orleans Saints punter Matthew Hayball has been an extremely effective weapon for the Saints. You actually would like to never see your punter.

Unfortunately for the Saints, they’ve seen Hayball frequently. Fortunately for the Saints, however, Hayball frequently delivers. Punts aren’t typically highlight plays unless it’s a punt return, but Hayball has put the opposing offense in tough situation on a regular basis.

Hayball has placed 27 punts inside the opposing 20-yard line. No other punter has done it more times through 11 games. What’s more impressive is the percentage of punts he places inside the 20-yard line. 57% of Hayball’s punts have been inside the 20.

If you hyper focus on yards per punt, you may think Hayball has struggled. He ranks 31st in the NFL in what can be a misleading stat. You don’t want a 55-yard punt when you’re just outside of field goal range. Judging a punter solely on how far he punts on average is flawed because a punter doesn’t always use his full leg. Accuracy is what’s most important in that situation.

Punts landing inside the 20-yard line also doesn’t tell the full story, but it’s a better metric to measure effectiveness. But even if he’s effective, let’s hope we see less of Hayball through the final six weeks — that would mean the Saints are ending more drives with points than punts.

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The Saints had more punting yards than offensive yards against the Chargers

The Saints had more punting yards than offensive yards gained in their Week 8 loss to the Chargers. Klint Kubiak has some explaining to do:

The New Orleans Saints find themselves sitting with a 2-6 record after eight weeks, and their offense has been pretty much useless without Pro Bowl  center Erik McCoy for six of those weeks. This became an even more obvious issue in their Week 8 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers when they managed to have more total punt yards than total yards of offense during the course of the game. They ended with 366 total yards during the course of the game, which is not horrendous but not good at all either.

As for punting yards, rookie punter Matthew Hayball got 9 attempts to punt and made the most of them as he racked up 437 yards (48.6 per punt). He also put five of his punts inside the opposing 20-yard line and had only two go for a touchback in what was a pretty masterful game for the rookie punter. The Saints were averaging only 162.3 punt yards per game entering Week 8, the 22nd-most in the NFL, which shows how much of an outlier this truly is.

With all due respect to Hayball, the punter should never be the teammate having the best day, and he certainly shouldn’t be outgaining his own offense. Klint Kubiak has some explaining to do. Losing McCoy for so long has given him plenty of time to adjust but no changes have been forthcoming. He hasn’t recovered from that loss even with so many other starters and key contributors returning from injury. The clock is ticking louder as Kubiak’s offense continues to stall out. Something must change, and soon.

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Broncos worked out a left-footed punter on Tuesday

The Broncos worked out left-footed punter Brock Miller on Tuesday ahead of their TNF showdown with Saints lefty Matthew Hayball.

Sean Payton’s doing everything he can to gain an advantage going into a Thursday Night Football clash with the New Orleans Saints this week.

The Denver Broncos worked out punter Brock Miller on Tuesday, according to a report from KPRC-TV’s Aaron Wilson. Miller’s workout is not necessarily a bad sign for current punter Riley Dixon. Rather, it’s a sign that Denver is preparing its returners for Thursday’s game in New Orleans.

Dixon, like the majority of NFL punters, is right-footed. So returners Marvin Mims and Tremon Smith are used to fielding right-footed punts each week in practice and in most games during the season.

This week, the Broncos will face Saints punter Matthew Hayball, who is a lefty. Presumably to prepare Mims and Smith for catching left-footed punts, Denver brought in Miller for Tuesday’s practice.

Miller, 33, has spent time with three NFL teams and he’s played in the UFL, USFL and XFL.

If the workout went well, Miller could also be considered down the road if the Broncos are ever in need of a fill-in punter. This week, though, he was likely brought in to emulate Hayball at practice.

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At least the Saints’ punter had a good game vs. Chiefs

In the midst of an all-around poor performance by the Saints, rookie punter Matthew Hayball was a bright spot against the Chiefs. At least he had a good game:

The New Orleans Saints didn’t do well against the Kansas City Chiefs in many categories, but rookie punter Matthew Hayball was a bright spot on the day. The first-year pro from Vanderbilt has quietly put together a solid start to the season.

Offensive deficiencies gave Hayball the chance to showcase himself. After Derek Carr’s interception, the Saints punted in back-to-back possessions. Over half of the Saints first half possessions ended in a Hayball punt. His total number of punts would have been higher if the Saints weren’t in four down territory the majority of the fourth quarter.

Hayball averaged 49.8 yards per punt on four punts. That is his highest average of the season. His shortest punt on the night traveled 48 yards, and his long was 53 yards. It was a very consistent and effective night by the rookie punter.

He has gotten close to this average one time. He averaged 49 yards per punt against the Dallas Cowboys, but that was only on one punt. Hayball’s four punts against Kansas City are a larger sample size and more impressive.

Hayball has done a good job of placing the ball inside the 20 this year. His opportunities of doing this were limited against Kansas City because of where he was punting from. Still he put two punts inside the 20 with one of them being returned just outside of the 20-yard line. At least someone wearing a black and gold jersey had a good game.

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Saints work out two punters despite Matthew Hayball winning initial position battle

Saints work out two punters in lieu of Matthew Hayball winning the initial position battle

The New Orleans Saints have had a significant burst of workouts Monday evening, including both receivers and punters. As for the punting side of things, they worked out Trenton Gill and Corliss Waitman, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. These workouts come only days after undrafted rookie Matthew Hayball won the initial starting position battle at punter over incumbent from 2023 Lou Hedley.

Neither player has had an exceptional start to their NFL career, however, both have starting experience at one point or another. Gill moved to the NFL in the 2022 NFL draft after spending four seasons at North Carolina State, where he would receive First-team All-ACC honors in 2021 and Third-team All-ACC honors in 2019. After being drafted in the seventh round at pick 255 by the Chicago Bears, he would end up as the starter in both 2022 and 2023. He accrued 133 punts there for 5,163 yards (46.1 average) and 38 inside the 20-yard line (28.6%). It is worth noting that his career long was a 76 yarder, which may be why the Saints took a look into him.

Waitman has had a much different football career, going undrafted in 2020 and being picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he would reside on their practice squad before being waived. He would then bounce around from the Las Vegas Raiders to the New England Patriots before coming back to Pittsburgh to get two games worth of opportunity, where he would punt 7 times for 365 yards (52.1 average) with only 1 inside the 20. In 2022 he ended up with the Denver Broncos where he would start the whole season, putting up 96 punts (most in the NFL that season) for 4,470 yards (46.6 average) and 30 inside the 20-yard line (31.3%). His career long is a 63 yarder, however he has not played in a regular season game since that season, as he would go to the practice squad of the New England Patriots for 2023 and Chicago Bears for 2024.

Ultimately, both may just be in consideration for pickups down the road pending the performance of Hayball. Or, maybe they want to retain one on the practice squad just in case of injury. We will see in the coming days if they want to make another addition at the position or if this was just for research. But at this time, neither has been signed, also per Nick Underhill.

Matthew Hayball showcased leg talent, consistency to win punter battle

Matthew Hayball defeated Lou Hedley in the Saints’ punter battle. Dennis Allen listed three key factors in that decision:

The New Orleans Saints had the potential of major special teams changes going into this season. Lou Hedley and Blake Grupe were both competing for their jobs after questionable first seasons in the Black and Gold.

New Orleans brought two undrafted free agents. Matthew Hayball was brought in to challenge Hedley at punter and Grupe had to contend with Charlie Smyth at kicker. Grupe held on to his spot, but Hayball looked good enough in Saints training camp for the team to make a change at punter.

Dennis Allen explained the decision as coming down these three factors: age, ability and consistency. “Hayball is younger. I think he’s got a little bit more leg talent. Over the course of the last couple weeks of practice, (Hayball) was a little bit more consistent than Lou.”

Through the preseason, Hayball had a better averages in yards per punt and net yardage, which subtracts return yardage from the punt yardage. Hayball also had a longest punt of the preseason.

Most importantly, Allen called the rookie the more consistent player. Allen still believes Hedley is talented and will be “punting in our league again,” but consistency can’t be understated. If you’re more talented and more reliable, the job is typically yours.

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Rico Payton, Mason Tipton among undrafted rookies on Saints’ initial roster

The New Orleans Saints decided to keep four of their undrafted rookies on the initial 53-man roster, including Mason Tipton and Rico Payton:

The New Orleans Saints have had a long day of roster moves and cleaning out their position groups until they get down to 53 players for the initial roster. Three players worthy of note who made the cut included undrafted rookies Rico Payton and Mason Tipton, and Dallin Holker, all of whom looked exceptional in training camp. And rookie punter Matthew Hayball won his battle to secure that job, too.

It’s extremely impressive considering Tipton did not play a preseason snap due to injury, but showed out so strongly early at camp that he was retained. As for Payton, he made the roster due to high-level preseason play, despite a slower start to camp, and performed so well that the Saints could not risk putting him on the practice squad. Holker missed some time due to a recennt ankle injury, however, he looked solid enough to be worthy of a roster spot.

Payton was outstanding in all three preseason games, however, in game two he was most noticeable, earning our Player of the Game for that week from the Saints team. He will join the group of Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo, Alontae Taylor, and Kool-Aid McKinstry in the cornerback room among anyone else who is not taken off the roster.

In the wide receiver room, NOF’s Nick Underhill has confirmed it will be Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson, A.T. Perry, Tipton, and Bub Means to start off the season. All things considered, that was probably the best mix of talent and upside of the wide receivers on the team, so it was formed well given the players they had.

As for the tight ends, we will see Juwan Johnson, Holker, and Foster Moreau with Kevin Rader landing on IR. Ultimately Holker will be a fun addition to the team, who could get some playing time with Taysom Hill seeming more like a fullback in the new offensive scheme for the Saints. We’ll see if all four rookies hang around but for now they have to be feeling optimistic.

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Saints waive Lou Hedley, making a big change at punter

The New Orleans Saints waived Lou Hedley, making a big change at punter. It looks like it’ll be Matthew Hayball punting this year but he isn’t out of the woods yet:

The New Orleans made a big change at punter and waived Lou Hedley, as first reported by NewOrleans.Football’s Mike Triplett. Obviously we’ll have to wait and make sure they don’t add someone else, but that suggests rookie punter Matthew Hayball won the job after a spirited competition throughout the summer. He’ll be the fourth punter for the Saints in five years after Hedley won the job from Blake Gillikin, who had replaced Thomas Morstead.

Hayball signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent in the spring, having played college football at Vanderbilt. Like Hedley he hails from Australia but Hayball showed better hang time and distance on his kicks throughout training camp. When Hedley consistently came up short in the preseason games with too many line-drive punts and a poorly-timed touchback, it seemed to seal the deal.

Good luck to Hedley on his next opportunity. He was one of the better stories in the Saints locker room and he’ll land on his feet wherever he goes next. As for Hayball? We’ve seen the Saints dismiss all of their specialists and bring in someone new before if they weren’t getting the desired results. Maybe that repeats this time. Roster cuts will be finalized at 3 p.m. CT. on Tuesday but more movement is expected throughout the week.

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