METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) — Don’t sleep on Saints special teams.
New Orleans recently extended long snapper Zach Wood to 4-year, $4 million plus contract, while kicker Wil Lutz took a pay cut for 2023. Additionally, both Lutz and punter Blake Gillikin have tough competition at 2023 Saints Training Camp in Blake Grupe and Lou Hedley, respectively.
“Blake, Zach, and I are all really close, and I think that’s important. I think this organization values keeping a battery together that has shown works. We’ve made a lot of big kicks together, and I hope that continues,” Lutz said Sunday after camp.
Lutz proved his clutch capabilities at Sunday’s camp by going 4-for-4 in front of a large crowd of fans on Airline Drive. The cherry on top came when Lutz’s fourth and final kick in the sequence went right down the middle from 62 yards out.
The kicker was humble when asked about the long ball, saying, “There was a good wind behind me, so [special teams coordinator Darren] Rizzi knows when I’m grooving. Look, right now I’m trying to get back to my old ways and find a rhythm. I didn’t have a great day the other day, so i thought today was important to bounce back and hit the ball well…I’m trying to stack some good days together and get back to doing what I was in the past.”
Lutz returned to the field at the very end of practice and made another kick to prevent the team from having to run wind sprints.
When asked about the Saints bringing in Notre Dame rookie Blake Grupe to compete with him for the starting job, Lutz gave a nod to Grupe but clarified the nature of the NFL kicking business.
“Blake is extremely talented. You guys see it? We see it every day. He works hard. He’s got the moxie to him to be in this league. So, look, you guys act like I don’t compete with everybody every year, right? And that sounds cliché, but, the first five years I was here, we didn’t have competition, and I never looked at it that way.”
Ultimately, Lutz thinks the competition with Grupe is making both of them better. Lutz added that there are about 64 guys in the league with which he is competing, but that having Grupe in the building hits closer to home.
“And that’s just part of the business,” Lutz said.
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