Blake Grupe scored all 15 points the New Orleans Saints put on the board in Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, but now they’re looking at possible replacements. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports that the Saints hosted several free agent kickers at the team facility Tuesday for a group tryout.
The rookie has struggled throughout the season, connecting on 24 of his 30 field goal tries (80%); Grupe has also missed two kicks in his last three games, and he received treatment for a groin muscle injury late last week. But he hit five of his six field goal tries to at least keep the Saints competitive in their 24-15 loss in Atlanta.
So who are the Saints looking at? Here are the kickers Underhill reported are in town:
Mason Crosby
Crosby, 39, is a longtime Green Bay Packers kicker with a career field goal success rate of 81.4%. He tried out for the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants earlier this season but has yet to sign with a team.
James McCourt
McCourt, 26, has yet to kick in the regular season but he’s 5-for-6 on field goals in preseason play. He played college football at Illinois and has spent time in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers.
Taylor Bertolet
Bertolet, 31, has bounced around the NFL with brief stops in the CFL, USFL and short-lived AAF. He’s made all three of his field goal tries in two games with the Los Angeles Chargers last season. He played college football at Texas A&M, Dennis Allen’s alma mater.
The Times-Picayune | Advocate’s Matthew Paras adds that the Saints also brought in Ramiz Ahmed for this tryout. Ahmed, 28, played at Nevada in college and has spent time with the Chicago Bears and Green Bay packers in the NFL (plus the USFL’s Pittsburgh Maulers). He’s mainly worked as a kickoff specialist, though he’s connected on three field goal tries in two preseason games.
Austin Seibert
Seibert, 27, was also mentioned in Paras’ report. He’s spent time with several different teams, most recently the New York Jets, going 45-of-56 (80.4%) on field goal tries since entering the league in 2019.
