Saints show faith in young players with pair of surprising cut-day transactions
The New Orleans Saints parted with longtime kicker Wil Lutz and former Super Bowl champion cornerback Bradley Roby on Tuesday, a pair of moves that reveal New Orleans has a lot of trust in its young players.
Lutz was traded to Denver for a seventh-round draft pick, a move that Peter King suggested as a possibility last week. Saints kicker Blake Grupe had a strong preseason, including a 31-yard field goal as time expired against Kansas City to seal a 26-24 win.
Despite being the hero of the game, security stopped the baby-faced Grupe from entering the field afterward, thinking he was a fan. It's easy to understand why. Even in uniform, he doesn't look old enough to see an R-rated movie, let alone be on an NFL roster.
Grupe finished the preseason 5-of-6, his only miss a 60-yarder in the finale. Lutz, meanwhile, was 4-of-4 as he bounced back from making only 74.2 percent of his attempts last season. From 2016-20, Lutz was successful on 86.6 percent of his field goal tries.
Roby's cut was a little more surprising. A solid veteran contributor for New Orleans the past two seasons, he began his career in Denver after being selected in the first round (31st overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft.
He was a member of the Broncos' 2015 championship team and only allowed two receptions on six targets in Denver's 24-10 Super Bowl 50 win.
Last year, he only allowed receptions on 53.7 percent of his targets as he played primarily in the slot for the first time in his career.
Second-year corner Alontae Taylor and third-year pro Paulson Adebo have established themselves in the secondary over the past couple of seasons. Still, Roby's veteran leadership was a positive, and will certainly help him land on his feet elsewhere.
With Marshon Lattimore, Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye, however, New Orleans has multiple veterans in the secondary. Overall, the team has multi-year vets up and down the roster, including quarterback (Derek Carr), running back (Alvin Kamara), wide receiver (Michael Thomas), linebacker (Demario Davis) and defensive end (Cameron Jordan).
Per Oddschecker, the Saints (+130) are the favorite to win the NFC South and return to the postseason for the first time since 2020.
Instead of relying solely on players who have been there before, New Orleans is banking on multiple young players to perform significant roles in leading the organization back to the playoffs, too.
Moves like those take a leap of faith.
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