Saints may have settled their fullback competition by waiving Zander Horvath

The Saints may have settled their fullback competition by waiving Zander Horvath. But is Adam Prentice’s job really safe from Taysom Hill?

Training camp isn’t over just yet, but the New Orleans Saints may have already settled their fullback competition. Zander Horvath was let go on Tuesday, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill.

Horvath followed running backs coach Derrick Foster to New Orleans from the Los Angeles Chargers, and he initially seemed to have an edge over Adam Prentice, who the Saints re-signed this offseason after he tested free agency. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak asks a lot of his fullbacks in blocking for their teammates while also running routes and occasionally catching passes, and Prentice has emerged as a better option.

That’s a little surprising after Prentice’s rough 2023 season. He had a costly fumble and some dropped passes last year, but credit to him for stepping up in the face of competition. But he isn’t out of the woods yet. Taysom Hill has taken more snaps at fullback this summer than in the past and Prentice must convince the coaching staff they still need a full-time fullback even with Hill in the mix to a greater degree. We’ll keep an eye on him through the next two preseason games.

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Countdown to Kickoff: Zander Horvath is the Saints Player of Day 40

We continue our daily countdown to the Saints Week 1 kickoff with No. 40. Fullback Zander Horvath is the Saints Player of the Day:

The New Orleans Saints Week 1 matchup with the Carolina Panthers is getting closer and closer, with only 40 days remaining until this divisional tilt. As we continue to count down the days until that first matchup for the Saints, we look at the corresponding jersey number to that amount of days remaining, which today is fullback Zander Horvath.

The number has had some quality players tied to it across Saints history, with Delvin Breaux, Robert Massey, and Terry Schmidt all being notable users of the No. 40 jersey.

With that said, let’s take a look at Horvath’s career so far, his background, and what we may be able to expect from him this upcoming 2024 season.

  • Name (Age): Zander Horvath (25)
  • Position: Fullback
  • Height, weight: 6-foot-3, 230 pounds
  • Relative Athletic Score: 9.83
  • 2024 salary cap hit: $915,000
  • College: Purdue
  • Drafted: Round 7, Pick 260 (Los Angeles Chargers)
  • NFL experience: 2 seasons

Horvath is an intriguing addition for the Saints, as he was exceptionally talented throughout his high school years and was a solid contributor throughout his collegiate career at Purdue. As we all know, the Saints love players with high Relative Athletic Scores, or more specifically those who have good physical attributes and are extremely athletically gifted, which Horvath was scoring a 9.83 out of a possible 10.00 in RAS.

Fullback is most definitely a position of need, as the Saints always like to keep one on the roster for 3rd and short or 4th and short situations. In recent years there was Adam Prentice and Alex Armah, with Prentice still remaining with the Saints. Prentice has had a rough go of things in recent games, having a fumble, dropped pass, and slow blocking plan in the span of seven days, which caused him to lose favor with Saints fans relatively quickly.

The addition of Horvath this March shows that there will most definitely be competition for the spot, and it could be an intriguing battle of longevity with the team in Prentice versus athletic prowess in Horvath. But don’t overlook Taysom Hill’s ability to disrupt that competition, too.

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Countdown to Kickoff: Adam Prentice is Saints Player of Day 46

Countdown to Kickoff: Adam Prentice is Saints Player of Day 46. He must bounce back in a big way to hold onto his starting job at fullback

There are only 46 days to go until the season kicks off for the New Orleans Saints. This means the Saints’ player of the day is fullback Adam Prentice. The fullback position isn’t a glamorous one, but they serve an important role in the offense.

  • Name (Age): Adam Prentice (27)
  • Position: Fullback
  • Height, weight: 6-foot-0, 245 pounds
  • Relative Athletic Score: 5.66
  • 2024 salary cap hit: $1,130,000
  • College: South Carolina, Colorado State
  • Drafted: Undrafted in 2021 (Denver Broncos)
  • NFL experience: 4th year

After going undrafted in 2021, Prentice ended up signing with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos waived him that same year, and the Saints claimed him off waivers. This is where Prentice has been ever since. He recently signed a one-year, $1,130,000 contract to return to the team in March.

This past season he had just two carries for 12 yards while catching two passes for another dozen yards, but he had an untimely fumble and a bad drop. Prentice ended the 2023 campaign with a 38.1 Pro Football Focus player grade. He is going to compete with Zander Horvath, who signed with the Saints in free agency, to be the team’s fullback this season.

But both of them could be sidelined by Taysom Hill if the versatile playmaker can execute the same assignments while wearing all of his other hats. Prentice needs to bounce back in a big way to hold onto his starting job.

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Saints re-sign Adam Prentice for a training camp fullback competition

Big news at the official start of free agency. The Saints re-signed Adam Prentice for a training camp fullback competition:

Here’s some big news at the formal start of free agency. The New Orleans Saints announced they have re-signed fullback Adam Prentice, who is returning for a training camp competition with Zander Horvath — who was recently signed as a veteran respected by members of Klint Kubiak’s new offensive coaching staff.

So it’ll be Prentice versus Horvath over the summer. It makes sense to bring Prentice back so he can compete for his roster spot because he knows the other players inn the locker room well, but he’ll have to prove he can execute the blocking assignments and responsibilities asked off fullbacks in Kubiak’s system. He had a rough year with the Saints last season that included dropped passes and a very unfortunate fumble deep inside New Orleans territory.

Now that the NFL calendar has officially turned over into 2024, the Saints have a number of vulnerabilities to address with their roster. Kubiak wants to run the football often and effectively and improved blocking up front will do a lot to achieve that. His system asks a lot of the fullback so Prentice will need to show a wider set of skills than we’ve seen from him before. It’s just one more subplot to watch in the months ahead.

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Saints sign a new fullback, but he isn’t new to their coaching staff

The Saints signed a new fullback, but he isn’t new to their coaching staff. Meet Zander Horvath:

The New Orleans Saints signed a new fullback, but he isn’t new to their coaching staff. Meet Zander Horvath, formerly of Purdue, whose addition was announced on Thursday’s update to the daily NFL transactions wire.

Horvath, 25, played college football at Purdue before turning pro with the Los Angeles Chargers, who picked him in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft. He measured out exceptionally well in the pre-draft process with a 9.83 Relative Athletic Score (a metric which often lines up with attributes the Saints value). He weighed in at 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds but has been listed at 232 and 235 with different teams.

Former Chargers running backs coach Derrick Foster worked with him closely in L.A., so there’s an obvious connection with Foster holding the same position on staff these days in New Orleans. Horvath was waived during roster cuts last August and briefly landed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Chargers brought him back to their practice squad to close out the season. He wasn’t re-signed after that.

He wasn’t the only player the Saints tried out on Thursday; the wire also reports 232-pound running back Qadree Ollison as a participant. He’s a former Atlanta Falcons draft pick (fifth round in 2019) who was teammates with Horvath on the Steelers for a few months last season. The Saints must have liked what they saw from Horvath better.

This might mean the end of the road for Adam Prentice. The incumbent Saints fullback is a restricted free agent but he’s coming off a down year with dropped passes, blown blocking assignments, and a very unfortunate fumble. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is going to be asking different things of his fullback than Pete Carmichael asked of Prentice last season, so they might look for someone else to push Horvath for the job in training camp.

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Ryan Ficken breaks down Chargers’ special teams entering Week 1

Special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken talked about the state of his Chargers unit.

Special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken broke down the state of the Chargers’ special teams at his Monday media availability.

First, Ficken was asked about the summer kicking competition between Cameron Dicker and Dustin Hopkins.

Dustin, first and foremost, is an elite kicker. Either way, however it shook out, we were going to lose a top kicker. We felt, as an organization, that the body of work with what Cameron has done — nothing that Hopkins hasn’t done — more of what Dicker has done, our faith and belief in him and his consistency with it. Moving forward, we thought he was the right guy for the opportunity.

Hopkins was traded to the Browns for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick prior to final roster cuts. While the coaching staff has consistently said that the two kickers were in “competition” for most of training camp, it never truly felt that way. Dicker hit about 90% of his field goal attempts throughout the summer while Hopkins had nagging injuries that caused him to sit for various periods of time. As somewhat evidenced by the Browns trade, Hopkins playing in the preseason was merely an audition for kicker-needy teams.

When asked about Dicker’s range on field goals this year, Ficken seemed very confident.

That’s something that depends on the situation. It depends on the game, the environment, the wind, indoor or outdoor and all of that. We’re very confident in his leg strength and where he can kick from, the distance. Especially with how many reps you’re going to get, those opportunities from the greater distances. I don’t think distance really plays a factor with him. He’s steady Eddie as it is.

Dicker went 21 for 22 on field goal attempts last season. From 40-49 yards, he went 6 for 6 on the year. However, range is an interesting discussion. Last year, the former Texas product missed his only attempt from 50+ yards against the Raiders. There’s not much of a sample size to go off of and one has to wonder how many 50+ yarders Dicker would actually attempt with Staley’s 4th down philosophy.

Ficken also noted the work that will have to be done to replace fullback Zander Horvath. The 2022 seventh-round pick officially signed with Pittsburgh’s practice squad yesterday.

It’s a tough replacement. I don’t think that you, necessarily, replace a Zander Horvath. It’s unfortunate — with the way that the roster is made up — to lose a really good player, in terms of special teams, as Zander. I’m very thankful for what he brought to this organization last year and how we were able to get a foundation built with him as a rookie. He’s going to do great things wherever he is at, so I’m very happy for him to have a situation. We wanted him back here, just a different situation. It just kind of works out that way. He’s going to be successful wherever he goes.

Ficken also noted that replacing Horvath will likely be done with a group of players by committee. Kickoff team and punt team coverages are the two responsibilities that the Chargers’ special teams coordinator will now be trying to fill.

On whether he’d name Derius Davis the starting returner, Ficken was a bit tepid in his response.

We have a pretty good idea of who is going to be the returner. Obviously, Derius did some good things in the preseason games. At the end of the day, we still have to make sure that we’re repping and we’re preparing the other guys, too, on this team that can handle the job because you never know what could happen, anything can happen. We’re going full throttle with the three returners that we have on this roster, to prepare them to be ready to go on Sunday, if their number gets called.

Ficken also noted that he views kick returner and punt returner as two separate positions in his philosophy. He said that he’s seen different special teams circumstances dictate the philosophy. On his previous teams, Ficken said that he’s seen one returner handle both roles and some setups where two different returners handle each job separately.

In his final remarks of the presser, Ficken stressed the importance of newly signed LB Tanner Muse on the 53-man roster.

“Yes. We expect him to be out there. That’s a big reason why we ended up bringing him here. We’re excited to have a guy such as Tanner, the way that he plays special teams, with his length and his speed and his strength. He does a great job. We expect him to be out there and be a major contributor for us.”

It’s worth noting that Muse could end up playing a lot of special teams with his experience there. Staley and Ficken have liked their “core four” special teams players to have significant roles on the roster. Daiyan Henley was dealing with a hamstring injury last week, so it’ll also be important to see if there’s any progress on his recovery when the injury reports are released. If Henley can’t go, Muse could play an even larger role than expected.

Chargers claim LB Tanner Muse off waivers

The Chargers submitted one waiver claim following NFL cutdown day, adding Tanner Muse.

The Chargers submitted one waiver claim following NFL cutdown day, adding linebacker Tanner Muse.

By claiming Muse, Los Angeles had to add him directly to the 53-man roster. To make room for him, fullback Zander Horvath was waived.

Before joining the Bolts, Muse spent this summer with the Steelers. According to Pro Football Focus, Muse had the seventh-best grade on special teams (84.4) this preseason among players who played at least 30 snaps.

Muse was drafted by the Raiders in 2020 before suffering a foot injury that kept him sidelined the whole season. After he was waived, the Seahawks signed him to their practice squad before elevating him to the active roster in 2021.

Of his 405 total snaps in 2022 with Seattle, 325 came on special teams. Over his first three seasons, Muse has totaled 20 combined tackles and one pass defended.

Before joining the NFL ranks, Muse played college ball at Clemson, where he finished with 237 career tackles (10.5 for loss), 15 passes defended, four sacks, seven interceptions and a forced fumble.

With the Chargers, Muse will primarily serve as a core special teamer. Still, he brings a versatile background and is highly adept in coverage at the linebacker position, so he can help out on defense when needed.

Chargers 2023 roster review: FB Zander Horvath

Zander Horvath is entering his sophomore campaign.

Training camp is approaching and before it kicks off, Chargers Wire is documenting each of Los Angeles’ players.

Fullback Zander Horvath is entering his second year with the Chargers and could see an increase in snaps this coming season.

An asset in the first few weeks of the 2022 season, Horvath became the first fullback to catch a touchdown in his first two games since 1942.

Horvath ended his rookie season with a small but effective receiving stat line of five receptions from eight targets for two touchdowns and a pair of first downs.

On the ground, Horvath was able to push through defensive lines where the running back room was not. He finished his year with five overall attempts for eight yards and two first downs. 

Additionally, Horvath was a special teams ace.

Contract (2023): $840,000 base salary, $19,252 prorated bonus, $889,252 cap hit.

Acquired: Horvath was selected by the Chargers with the 260th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft.

Highlight:

Projecting the Chargers’ running back depth chart in 2023

Projecting what the Los Angeles Chargers running back room will look like in the 2023 season.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be breaking down the depth chart for each Chargers position.

Quarterback

Next up, I project what the running backs room will look like heading into the 2023 season.

Chargers 2023 NFL draft preview: Where does Los Angeles stand at running back?

Our Chargers’ NFL draft preview series continues with the running back position.

After taking a steady approach in free agency, signing just one external player in linebacker Eric Kendricks and re-signing a handful of their own, the Chargers now have their sights set on the draft where they will look to bolster their roster with their selections and make a deeper run in 2023.

Before, we’re going position by position to break down where Los Angeles stands entering the draft.

Next up is running back, after we profiled the quarterback position yesterday.