K Wil Lutz traded to the Broncos for a 2024 7th round pick (2 Viewers)

[HouseCall]

Yes but you trading his contact. Trading players isn't a cut and dry thing. Contract and new contract comes into play

This 100%.

If your kicker isn’t Justin Tucker, you really should spend every offseason looking for ways to reduce expenses at kicker and punter.

 

[Gumbo's Dad]

Would you preferred they cut him and gotten nothing and he still ended up a Bronco?

Because that was the other option.

Unless you think carrying two placekickers makes sense to a team that has depth issues at OL and LB.

I would have preferred they kept Lutz or got more for him. Is that so difficult to comprehend?

 

[Bill]

I would have preferred they kept Lutz or got more for him. Is that so difficult to comprehend?

I think that every team around the league who was even remotely interested in finding a decent kicker was watching the outcome of the Lutz vs Grupe competition. The reason is because there was likely going to be a quality kicker that was going to become available for free right after the cutdowns were officially posted. Frankly I believe that the Saints had a slightly better chance of getting compensation for Lutz than for Grupe simply because of the 'unknown reliability' associated with Grupe.

The Saints seemed to like Grupe better than Lutz for more than just the salary cap issues. Our coaches truly believe that Grupe will perform better than Lutz in the months and years ahead. Of course they may be wrong in that assessment. However, Lutz was going to be released. Had the Broncos waited for the official release the Saints would have gotten nothing for the player that Sean Payton is hoping can be a big improvement to his kicking game. Thus the Saints decided to trade Lutz for the 7th round pick rather than let the Broncos get the same guy for free just a few hours later.

Yes, it would have been nice to get much greater compensation for Lutz. But that wasn't going to happen. No team... not even the one that ended up with him, was going to trade more than the 7th round pick for Lutz services. At this time it seems to have been a good deal for both teams. Especially for the team who was planning to let him walk anyway.

 

[LordPoopington]

I think that every team around the league who was even remotely interested in finding a decent kicker was watching the outcome of the Lutz vs Grupe competition. The reason is because there was likely going to be a quality kicker that was going to become available for free right after the cutdowns were officially posted. Frankly I believe that the Saints had a slightly better chance of getting compensation for Lutz than for Grupe simply because of the 'unknown reliability' associated with Grupe.

The Saints seemed to like Grupe better than Lutz for more than just the salary cap issues. Our coaches truly believe that Grupe will perform better than Lutz in the months and years ahead. Of course they may be wrong in that assessment. However, Lutz was going to be released. Had the Broncos waited for the official release the Saints would have gotten nothing for the player that Sean Payton is hoping can be a big improvement to his kicking game. Thus the Saints decided to trade Lutz for the 7th round pick rather than let the Broncos get the same guy for free just a few hours later.

Yes, it would have been nice to get much greater compensation for Lutz. But that wasn't going to happen. No team... not even the one that ended up with him, was going to trade more than the 7th round pick for Lutz services. At this time it seems to have been a good deal for both teams. Especially for the team who was planning to let him walk anyway.

I'd love for any of the people thinking we should have gotten more for him to give me a historical instance of a kicker being traded for a mid-round pick or higher.

 

[DavidM]

Maybe, but a clutch kicker is worth more than a 7th round pick.

If Lutz could still be relied on to be a clutch kicker, he'd still be a Saint. I wish him well and I hope he gets back to that level of performance. He was a tremendous player for the team through 2019, and by all accounts, is a terrific person who loves the city and organization.

The Saints weren't good enough last season and the kicking game was a part of that.

 

[DavidM]

I'd love for any of the people thinking we should have gotten more for him to give me a historical instance of a kicker being traded for a mid-round pick or higher.

More so, one coming off a 74% season.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

I would have preferred they kept Lutz or got more for him. Is that so difficult to comprehend?

so you wanted to keep 2 kickers on the active roster or you preferred him over Groupe?

 

[Rexman100]

When he runs out to kick,, people are going to think they just suited up the one of the punt pass and kick kids from halftime.

More so, one coming off a 74% season.

Kicking is like free throws. If you’re Hot you’re 90-100%. But if you miss one, ah ok, im 98%. Ok missed two in a row, what’s wrong with him? Miss 3 of 8, maybe he’s injured, maybe the holder is the problem. Yada. If this keeps trending this way, picture SHAQ O’neil one hand palming the ball, air balling or straight banging it off the iron. It’s streaky and confidence driven. My point, Lutz fgm % was that like a hang glider on fire. There’s no coming back. Say he makes a 60 yard FG. His confidence level shoots from 75-85%. But then he misses the next kick, an extra point. Now his confidence rockets down too. 50%. The missed kicks have a huge impact compared to the kicks made. Watch at the Broncos, he’ll make 7 in a row. Then start trending down. Because the damage has already been done. Can anyone provide data where a FG kicker kicked themselves out of slump? Olindo Mare and do I have to say …..Chip Loemiller. Chip was so slumped he couldn’t come close to the goal poles much less make one.

 

[DavidM]

Kicking is like free throws. If you’re Hot you’re 90-100%. But if you miss one, ah ok, im 98%. Ok missed two in a row, what’s wrong with him? If this keeps trending this way, picture SHAQ O’neil one hand palming the ball, air balling or straight banging it off the iron. It’s streaky and confidence driven. My point, Lutz fgm % was that like a hang glider on fire. There’s no coming back. Say he makes a 60 yard FG. His confidence level shoots from 75-85%. But then he misses the next kick, an extra point. Now his confidence rockets down too. 50%. The missed kicks have a huge impact compared to the kicks made. Watch at the Broncos, he’ll make 7 in a row. Then start trending down. Because the damage has already been done. Can anyone provide data where a FG kicker kicked themselves out of slump? Olindo Mare and do I have to say …..Chip Loemiller. Chip was so slumped he couldn’t come close to the goal poles much less make one.

Yeah, I don't know enough about the history of kicking to really say, but it does *seem* like, quite often, kickers have a difficult time working out of a slump. Who knows, a change of scenery might be good for Lutz.

Brett Maher was 66.7% in his second season (2019), then out in 2020 (don't remember why and haven't looked into it) then was 88.9% kicking for us in 2021, and 90.6% last year for Dallas. He does have some struggles on XPs, though. He came back from adversity but even though he's doing quite well on FGs over the last two seasons, nobody wants to commit to him.

Consistency and reliability are pretty much everything in kicking, so it's never really a surprise when kickers falter too much that changes are made.

 

[BlackandGoldXLIV]

This may have been mentioned before but, Lutz's FG distance in Denver is going to be sick.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

This may have been mentioned before but, Lutz's FG distance in Denver is going to be sick.

not sure if distance was ever really an issue

 

[jdpower13]

There were 3 kicker trade in the last 2 days :

Lutz to Broncos for 2024 7th round pick
Hopkins to Browns for 2025 7th round pick
Folk to Titans for 2025 7th round pick

2022 :

	FG Attempts	FG Made	Long	%	XP Attempts	XP Made	%
Lutz	31	23	60	74.20%	33	33	100.00%
Hopkins	10	9	43	90.00%	12	12	100.00%
Folk	37	32	54	86.50%	35	32	91.40%

Seems we did pretty good value wise for the trade no?

 

[meily]

It is going to be so annoying this season to see all these threads second guessing DA every time Lutz makes a field goal or when Grupe misses one.

 

[Scorpius the Allfather]

Maybe, but a clutch kicker is worth more than a 7th round pick.

He hasn't been clutch in a few years.

 

[HouseCall]

It is going to be so annoying this season to see all these threads second guessing DA every time Lutz makes a field goal or when Grupe misses one.

Oh, you bet it is!

But I suppose that’s the joys of being a fan. The highest highs and the lowest lows.