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The New Orleans Saints are adding to their preseason kicking competition by signing former All-Pro Daniel Carlson, a league source confirmed to The Athletic on Monday. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because they didn’t have permission to comment publicly.
Carlson, 31, was released by the Las Vegas Raiders in March after spending the previous eight seasons as the franchise’s kicker. After tying for the NFL lead in scoring in 2020, Carlson earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2021 and first-team All-Pro honors in 2022. He is coming off a season in which he converted 81.5 percent of his field goals for the Raiders, his lowest season percentage since his second year in the NFL in 2019.
Three of the five kicks Carlson missed last season were from more than 50 yards. However, the timing of some of his misses put a brighter spotlight on his struggles. In Week 10 against the Denver Broncos, Carlson missed a 48-yard field goal attempt with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter that would have tied the game. Instead the Broncos ran out the clock for a 10-7 victory. The previous week, Carlson had his lone missed extra point of the season in what was ultimately a 30-29 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Carlson had relatively limited opportunities for a struggling Raiders offense, which led him to attempt just 27 field goals, his lowest total since 2019.
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Despite coming off a down season, Carlson offers a boost to the kicking situation in New Orleans. The Saints began last season with Blake Grupe as their kicker. Through the first 12 weeks, Grupe led the league with eight missed field goals. After Grupe missed two kicks — from 38 and 47 yards — against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 12, the Saints released him and elevated Charlie Smyth from the practice squad.
Smyth has been in a competition throughout training camp with Tanner Brown, whom the Saints signed in June. Smyth missed a 52-yard field goal in the team’s preseason opener, during which Brown made field goals from 49 and 29 yards. However, in the team’s second preseason game on Saturday, Brown missed the Saints’ lone field goal attempt, from 39 yards out.
Carlson’s signing puts both Smyth and Brown on the hot seat, but especially Brown. Roster cutdown day is less than a week away, but if Carlson wins the job, Smyth could get a spot on the team’s practice squad again without counting toward the 16-player practice squad limit because Smyth still falls under the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program.
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