The season is 8 weeks old, and Saints kicker Wil Lutz would certainly not call it his best.
He’s made 12 of 17 field goal attempts (70.6%). There is only one other kicker in the NFL with a worse percentage: Minnesota Vikings Kicker Greg Joseph (64.3%). Yes, the same Greg Joseph that made all five of his field goals, including the game-winner, to beat the Saints in London and was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Yep, that’s him.
Since beating the Saints, Joseph has made just 1 of 4 field goals and is 9 of 14 on the season, clinging to his job. This column isn’t actually about Greg Joseph, I just couldn’t help pointing out that bizarre set of circumstances.
Nope, this column is about Lutz, a player who has experienced some challenging times before. The fact that he is an NFL kicker at all was a longshot to begin with. His numbers during his years at Georgia State didn’t jump off the page, converting on just 69% of his attempts. He knew his only route to the NFL was as an undrafted free agent, but not with the Saints.
New Orleans did sign a UDFA kicker that year, his name was Anthony Pistelli. Lutz signed with the Baltimore Ravens, who had kicker Justin Tucker – possibly the best kicker of all time – firmly entrenched in that role. Tucker already had one of his AP All Pro honors. He now has seven of them. Lutz wasn’t there to compete. He was there to learn, which he did right up until the first cut down day, when Baltimore no longer needed his camp leg. His NFL future looked bleak at that point, and he contemplated his next move. A couple of weeks later he got the break he needed.
THE GAME | Ravens (5-3) at Saints (3-5)
- When: 7:15 p.m., Monday, Nov. 7
- Where: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Betting: Saints +1.5; o/u 47
- TV: ESPN
- Listen: WWL AM-870; FM-105.3 & the Audacy app
- Pregame: First Take with Jeff Nowak & Steve Geller, 3-5 p.m.; Countdown to Kickoff with Bobby Hebert & Kristian Garic, 5-7 p.m.
New Orleans hosted the Ravens in their preseason finale, prior to which Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told Sean Payton about the strong leg of this kid named Lutz. The Saints already had a kicker in Kai Forbath, but a week before the season-opener the Saints opted to give Lutz a workout. He left the staff so impressed that the job was his the next day. That was some workout.
But getting the job and keeping it are two different things, and his rookie year had some hurdles. He started the season missing 6 of his first 21 field goal attempts. Two of them were blocked, one returned for a touchdown. The other blocked kick set up a touchdown. He also had an extra point blocked and returned for a 2-point conversion that swung the result in a game against the Broncos.
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Remember, he wasn’t in for OTAs, minicamp or training camp that year. He just showed up on the first Wednesday before the season-opener. But Payton and the administration believed in him and stayed the course. Lutz showed his leg strength by nailing a 57 yarder and ended his rookie year by making his last 13 field goals.
From there he just got better and better. From 2016-2020 he made 87% of his field goals and 97% of his extra points. In 2019 the Saints signed Lutz to a new 5-year contract.
His return after missing the 2021 season due to a core muscle injury and surgery has been feast or famine. It fits right in with the season as a whole across the league. It’s just weird. You never know what will happen next.
Lutz’s struggles can be looked at from two angles. You can just look at the numbers and say: Well he’s missed 5 field goals, 2 in the 30–39-yard range, and 2 in the 40-49-yard range. They are not “gimmies,” even in the NFL, but in his first 5 years Lutz made it at a 90% clip from 30-49. You expect better. He’s 3 of 4 from 50 plus. From this angle, he’s struggling a bit.
The other angle takes a closer look at the misses, including the how and the when. It also takes into account the significance of the makes.
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In Week 1 in Atlanta, the one miss Wil had from 44 yards hit the left upright. He also made a 51-yarder that would be the game-winner. I ’ll take that 1-of-2 day any time, as long as the make wins the game. At Carolina in Week 3, Wil’s 30-yarder got blocked on a kick that’d have put the Saints on the board and cut into a 13-0 deficit.
He also missed a 48 yarder on the Saints opening drive of the 3rd quarter. It would have been a 38-yarder, but an 11-yard sack on third down pushed him back near midfield. Had he made both, it’d have been a one-score game. A fumble return for a TD and a batted ball interception were the big mistakes to blame in the loss. Still, Lutz’s inconsistency didn’t didn’t help.
In London for Week 4, Wil had just two field goal attempts. A 60-yarder he knocked through with under 2 minutes left tied the score at 25. After Greg Joseph made his 5th straight, the Saints gave Lutz another chance to tie, this one from 61 yards. It hit the left upright 10 feet up and the spin propelled the ball forward, but just enough to hit the crossbar which sent the ball tumbling inches shy of through. I’m not sure we could have survived a triple-doink.
My point is: That’s how close he came to making a 60 and a 61 yarder in the final 2 minutes of a game.
Let’s go back to his 50-plus field goals (75%). Wil is 2 of 2 from 50-59-yards (51 & 56) and 1 of 2 from 60-plus. That sounds a bit different, doesn’t it? After the 61-yard miss in London, Lutz made his next seven field goals before missing before halftime to extend halftime lead against the Raiders. You always want to put points on the board inside the 2-minute mark, and Lutz just faded it off the right. The Saints opened the third quarter with another Alvin Kamara TD and it’s easy to forget a missed kick in a 24-0 blowout.
To put it simply: Lutz has missed five field goals, one was blocked and two hit the uprights. He’s made all 19 of his PATs. Fortune brought him to New Orleans; his talent made this a home.
In Lutz we trust.
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