New Orleans’ front office is moving fast as final 53-man roster cuts draw near. The Saints proved they aren’t done tweaking the roster, following up their backfield trade with the 49ers by instantly shifting focus to the special teams.
In a late-offseason splash aimed at fixing its shaky kicking unit, the Saints agreed to sign two-time All-Pro veteran Daniel Carlson to take over the primary job, according to The NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport.
Saints Sign New Starting Kicker
GettyNew Orleans Saints sign former Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson
Late August practice reps offered zero clarity in choosing between Tanner Brown and Charlie Smyth after a month-long kicking competition.
Smyth has been in constant battle for a spot on the Saints since he joined. He went toe to toe with Blake Grupe in back-to-back training camps, but that didn’t work out.
Saints still played a gamble with Grupe and handed him the primary role. Everyone knows how that worked out. Grupe was cut mid-season after hitting a putrid 69% of his kicks. He missed 8 kicks in 11 games, missed a kick in each of his first 3 games, and had multiple games with two misses.
Smyth had to step in to close out the year (12-of-16), but the front office knew they needed to intervene to avoid the same mistake twice.
The front office and Moore both learned their lessons following 2025’s horror.
It was the same with Brown this year, and Moore was not repeating the same mistake. Preseason games were Brown’s final chance, and the debate was settled when he missed the 39-yard field goal right as the clock ran out, sealing the Saints’ 34-0 loss to the Rams.
Both their kickers missed the mark. Before Monday, the Saints didn’t have a single kicker on the roster who had ever made an NFL regular-season field goal.
Rather than letting the unproven depth bleed into the regular season, Moore decided to bring in a proven leader altogether in Carlson.
The former Raiders kicker is called ‘Cash Money Carlson’ for a reason.
Carlson is An Absolute Steal for the Saints
GettyNew Orleans Saints sign former Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson
Carlson’s strengths are exactly what the Saints needed and were desperately trying to find in Smyth and Brown: Accuracy. As the most accurate kicker in Las Vegas Raiders history, Carlson completed 87% on field goals there.
He has the second-most made field goals from 50-plus yards with 37. He also has the second-most made field goals in every single range.
While Carlson didn’t have a groundbreaking 2025 season, it wasn’t terrible either. He connected on 22 of 27 field goals in 2025, an 81.5% conversion rate. For a player who averages 86.9% across his career, it was his lowest single-season efficiency since his 2018 rookie year.
He averaged just 1.3 field goal attempts per game because the Raiders’ offense finished dead last in the NFL in scoring (14.2 PPG). He rarely got into a rhythm or had enough opportunities to pad his numbers.
That might not be the case with the Saints. Even though young, quarterbacks Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler move the ball into opponent territory, unlike the Raiders’ chaotic offense last season.
The Saints just had a classic ‘Red Zone Stall’ issue, with plenty of drives reaching the 30-yard line that sputtered out into field goal attempts. For a kicker like Carlson, that’s absolute prime real estate.
Saints Sign Two-Time All-Pro Kicker Hours After 49ers Trade