The Saints’ kicker competition just got a lot more interesting.
New Orleans had already been sorting through a battle this summer between Charlie Smyth, last season’s rookie surprise, and Tanner Brown, the rookie out of Oklahoma State who previously spent time with the Los Angeles Rams. Now the mix includes a proven veteran, as NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that the Saints are signing two-time All-Pro kicker Daniel Carlson.
"The Saints are signing two-time All-Pro K Daniel Carlson, his agents at @RangeSportsRMP tell me and @RapSheet," Garafolo reports.
Carlson, who previously kicked for the Las Vegas Raiders, will now join Smyth and Brown in the fight for the starting job this season. The move comes late in camp, but there is still time left before the regular season to sort out the position.
Brown has gone 2-for-3 on field goals this preseason, with a long of 49 yards. Smyth has missed his only field goal try, a 50-yard attempt, but he has made both of his extra points.
Smyth’s case isn’t built only on this summer, either. Last season, he went 12-for-16 on field goals, including a 57-yarder, and was perfect on extra points, going 13-for-13. The 25-year-old had looked like the favorite, but Carlson’s arrival changes the picture.
At 31, Carlson brings a résumé that still carries weight. He made 22 of 27 field goals last season, finishing at 81.5%, which was his lowest mark since his 2019 season before the Raiders moved to Las Vegas. Even so, his recent production is enough to make this a real three-man race.
Carlson was a first-team All-Pro in 2023 and a second-team All-Pro in 2022, and while he hasn’t been at the same peak level he once reached, he now enters the competition with a legitimate chance to win the job.
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