With a new QB, offense, defense and head coach, the New Orleans Saints look like they'll have narrow margins for a successful season in 2025.
What would help that cause -- and might just be essential -- is finding elite top-end performances on special teams, specifically from both the placekicker and punter, as Deuce McAllister explained Wednesday on Sportstalk.
“This team has to be elite in the kicking game, from a punting standpoint as well as kicking field goals, extra point, coverage standpoint, this team — they cannot be average," Deuce said.
Hear the full interview with Deuce in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
And after watching the first two days of Saints minicamp practices, that certainly looks possible. Third-year kicker Blake Grupe went 6-for-6 on Tuesday with a comfortable make from 61. Another contender for the job in Charlie Smyth went 5-for-6 on Wednesday, also with a make from 61 that went through about 3/4 of the way up the goalposts. His miss was pushed to the right from 49 yards out.
The other side of the equation is at punter with returning Matt Hayball and UDFA James Burnip, who kicked for the first time in front of the media on Wednesday. The Alabama product looks to have more of a field-flipping leg than the Saints have had in recent years, but Deuce is looking for a bit more.
"The old rule used to be are you inside the 20, that’s the old rules. If it’s not 10 and within, and out of 12 opportunities, you hit one of three, that’s not good enough," Deuce said, "And I’m not blaming just the punter, I’m gonna blame the gunners as well, because they’ve got to get down there and cover. ... That was one thing today and probably yesterday, not to say that they didn’t hit them or they didn’t execute like they wanted to, but just from the naked eye just looking at it, yesterday they weren’t inside the 10.”
MORE FROM DEUCE
Do you see Chris Olave as an elite WR1?
“There’s not many Ja’Marr Chases and Jeffersons out there in the world. … So you’ve got probably three guys, maybe four that are at that tier elite level. I would still have Chris in probably my second tier of really good receivers. … Now, the other thing is how are you using him. You know that he’s not gonna be a guy that’s going over the middle and, you know, catching contested catches every catch for him. If you’re gonna use him like that, you’re doing him a disservice, because that’s not his game, but if you can give him as far as in the slot, on the outside, you know, being able to run routes, just pure footwork as far as running routes, he can give you that all day and I think, you know, just using him in different ways, because the eyes — the attention is gonna go for him. Teams are going to want to get physical with him, but he’s played against man-to-man and physical corners before, so he knows how to adjust to that.”
Should Rashid Shaheed be the primary return man?
“He’s not full-time for me. I cannot stick him back there full time as far as a returner. If I don’t have anybody that can go back there and just catch the ball, you don’t have to return it. In certain situations, if I know that I am not trying to return this punt, I don’t need you to catch the ball. I’m not sticking Rashid back there. ... I haven’t seen the offense and how they’re gonna use him, but if knowing what I know about his ability, he’s gonna be used a fairly good amount — I want him on offense. And so if we don’t have anybody that can go back there and catch a punt, then we’ve got bigger problems than a No. 2 receiver or All-Pro, you’ve got bigger problems.”
