New Orleans Saints have difficult decision to make at kicker Nola.com (1 Viewer)

[Nightshade]

One of the toughest decisions the New Orleans Saints' front office has to make before the 53-man roster deadline Saturday afternoon is which kicker to keep with the team.

Even after four preseason games, it's still unclear whether Kai Forbath or Connor Barth performed better this summer, in part because both players had limited opportunities in the exhibitions.

Forbath, the Saints' kicker for 10 games in 2015, was 3-for-4 on field goals, missing a 50-yarder in the preseason opener in New England. Barth was 2-for-2, but he didn't have a chance to make a 50-yarder as his longest attempt was from 40.

New Orleans Saints have difficult decision to make at kicker | NOLA.com


Coin flip or rock, paper, scissors?

 

[Chris]

Someone mentioned we should go with the younger guy for longevity. Honestly, I doubt we keep either guy longer than a year or two so I don't think that matters. I say coin flip.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Someone mentioned we should go with the younger guy for longevity. Honestly, I doubt we keep either guy longer than a year or two so I don't think that matters. I say coin flip.

They are 28 and 30. Pretty young for a kicker.

No reason not to try to make one of them a long term solution if they kick well.

If we want to do something different, go with Barth I guess.

 

[Optimistic Ozzy]

I saw what I needed to see from Forbath last year and it seemed as though Barth never missed against when he was with Tampa. Barth is pretty much money 30-45 and that's what I want to go with.

 

[St. Geezy]

Really disappointed that we didn't get a better look at these two kickers in game situations.

It started in New England when we decided to be like the Patriots and go for two every time instead of giving these two kickers FG opportunities. Yeah, they're just extra points, but what if we would have learned that one of these guys were inconsistent in that area?

Then there were a few times where we went for it on 4th down.

Just seemed like odd behavior for a team that's legitimately trying to figure out which kicker to keep. Yeah, yeah...they see these guys at practice every day, I know; but game time situations are where jobs are won and lost.

Still mad that we let Dustin Hopkins go.

 

[eballa1]

I like Barth better, but I could see us going in an entirely different direction with someone else. Payton has no patience with kickers. Remember when he cut both of our kickers a couple years ago at the end of preseason? I could see that happening again.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Even on kickoffs it's close.

Forbath has a TB while Barth has none. Barth's return average is 1 yards worse. Their kickoff averages are both 64 yards per kickoff.

No real way to choose based on preseason stats.

 

[St. Geezy]

I think, because the competition was so even, the way you break the tie is to go by their career history, and IMO, Barth has Forbath beat VERY SLIGHTLY. Barth also has never missed indoors I believe.

The only thing Forbath has on Barth is familiarity. The shank in New England still stands out for me as does his awful finish to last year. A professional kicker should not have kicks like that one a few weeks ago.

 

[Alan12]

Barth

 

[Rdanderson91]

So what we're gonna do is find the one that's been better so far, then go with the other one

 

[longtime lurker]

Our luck with kickers.....whichever one we keep , was probably the wrong one.

 

[WilliamBrees]

Pick your poison, do you want to miss XPs or FGs? Considering we will be kicking more FGs, it may be best to go with Forbath.

 

[NeverGiveUP2]

If it is really that close here is what you do. Bring them into the facility. Start with extra point and they have a kick-off to kickoff. You want the guy who can handle pressure? How about the pressure of having an NFL job or not based on this kick.

If they have been soo close through camp see who handles pressure the best

 

[SuperSaint]

Coin toss, they're really the same guy.

Besides, we've got bigger problems...

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Go for it every time.