The Saints decided to make a change at kicker and New Orleans released Garrett Hartley on Tuesday, according to NOLA.com.
Saints release kicker Garrett Hartley
Following some recent issues, the Saints released kicker Garrett Hartley on Tuesday.
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
The move comes two days after Hartley missed a pair of field goals in a loss to St. Louis. That included a 26-yard attempt that he missed badly to the left. His other miss was due to a block, but Sean Payton said the kick came out too low.
“We can’t kick a field goal,” Payton said after the game, via NOLA.com. “We have one blocked, which was a low trajectory. The other one was shanked to the left.”
New Orleans brought a few kickers in for workouts in November, before opting to stick with Hartley. According to Brian McIntyre, Derek Dimke, Shayne Graham, Brandon McManus, John Potter and Neil Rackers worked out for the Saints. New Orleans could sign one of the five, or opt for another free agent addition.
Hartley made 22-of-30 field goal attempts this season, by far the worst conversion percentage of his career. He’s kicked for New Orleans for parts of six seasons, making 81.2 percent of his kicks. New Orleans is 30th in the NFL in field goal percentage this season with only Houston and Oakland having worse years.
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