Saints To Sign K Daniel Carlson

Aside from two appearances with Minnesota to begin his career, Carlson’s entire NFL tenure had been spent with the Raiders. The 31-year-old was largely successful during his time in Oakland/Vegas, earning All-Pro nods in 2021 (second team) and 2022 (first team) along the way. Last season, though, Carlson missed five of his 27 field goal attempts.

After playing out a four-year extension, Carlson saw his Raiders tenure come to an end with the team signing Matt Gay in free agency. After a lengthy stay on the open market, the Saints have made a late-summer addition by bringing in Carlson. He will look to secure kicking duties on his new team, one which faced uncertainty at that spot through the spring and into training camp.

Tanner Brown and Charlie Smyth are still in place for New Orleans. The former has yet to see any regular-season NFL action and joined the Saints in June. The latter, meanwhile, played in six games last season. Smyth, 25, connected on each of his field goal tries within 40 yards but missed four kicks from beyond that range. The Northern Irishman was perfect on extra point kicks, but he was unable to secure the kicking gig without competition for 2026 being brought in.

Carlson landed $4.6MM per season on his final Raiders deal. This latest pact will no doubt check in at a lower figure on a one-year deal. Nevertheless, consistency in the kicking game could help a New Orleans offense looking to take a step forward in 2026, the second year with head coach Kellen Moore in place and first full campaign with Tyler Shough handling starting quarterback duties.

The Saints entered Monday with just over $12MM in cap space, so this Carlson signing will not prevent other roster tweaks ahead of the looming cutdown deadline. It will be interesting to see if Brown or Smyth manage to earn at least a practice squad spot in New Orleans, with Carlson likely the favorite to win the kicking gig.