On thin ice: Saints kicker Blake Grupe ranks last in field goal success rate
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We saw the New Orleans Saints win their first game this season on Sunday, but it wasn't a perfect victory. It was another rough outing for third-year kicker Blake Grupe, who missed two of his six field goal tries to put him at a 66.7% success rate in 2025. That ranks last in the NFL, and no other kicker is under 75%. League average is 83.6%. It just isn't good enough.
And it isn't a new problem. Grupe has now missed 16 field goals since the Saints named him their starter in 2023 -- tied with Joey Slye and Jake Moody for second-most in the NFL during that span, per Stathead and Pro Football Reference. Only Matt Gay has missed more of them (17). Frustratingly, of the 15 kickers who have missed 10 or more field goals since 2023, Grupe's average distance on misses is second-lowest among everyone in double digits:
- Tyler Bass: 44.20 yards (10 misses)
- Blake Grupe: 45.50 yards (16 misses)
- Jake Moody: 45.69 yards (16 misses)
- Dustin Hopkins: 45.75 yards (12 misses)
- Chad Ryland: 46.00 yards (15 misses)
- Younghoe Koo: 46.07 yards (15 misses)
- Joey Slye: 48.25 yards (16 misses)
- Greg Joseph: 49.00 yards (10 misses)
- Jason Myers: 49.86 (14 misses)
- Brandon McManus: 49.60 yards (10 misses)
- Jake Elliott: 50.80 yards (10 misses)
- Daniel Carlson: 51.23 yards (13 misses)
- Matt Gay: 51.76 yards (17 misses)
- Justin Tucker: 51.85 yards (13 misses)
- Evan McPherson: 51.91 yards (11 misses)
It's one thing to be inaccurate from a great distance; today's kickers continue to push the envelope with 60-yard field goals, but even 50-yard tries are still not automatic. It's a whole other problem to be scattershot from inside 40 yards. By that standard, Grupe is tied with Brandon Aubrey for the most misses since 2023 (5). Move the goalposts again and Grupe is tied with Slye and Ka'imi Fairbairn as the only kickers with multiple missed field goals under 30 yards (2).
If you're curious or a glutton for punishment, the kicker the Saints traded to open the job for Grupe, Wil Lutz, has only missed twice from inside 40 yards during his time with the Denver Broncos. He has half as many misses in total as Grupe (8). Lutz has a success rate of 89.3% in Denver compared to 80.7% for Grupe in New Orleans. On average, Lutz has tried to kick from 38.12 yards, and Grupe is at 39.82. They've both missed two extra point attempts with Lutz getting nine more opportunities. It's fair to question the Saints for being so quick to move on from a Pro Bowler who had a down year coming off a major surgery.
Like we said, that just isn't good enough, and the trust Kellen Moore has voiced in him has to be validated. The Saints haven't indicated a change is coming, even with second-year pro Charlie Smyth on the practice squad and free agents available, and Moore pushed back on the narrative building around Grupe's lack of success when asked about it Monday:
"No, I think Blake is a really good kicker. People go through challenging circumstances in this league, and so the job is to find the solution, get better. He knows that, we all know that. We're in this thing together and so certainly our goal and aspiration is 'How can we help him just execute at a little bit higher level?' And so that's where we're focused."
Beating the New York Giants and getting in the win column bought them some time. But it's tough to buy into this line too heavily when the team is 1-4 and they have a promising alternative already on the roster. Grupe must improve, fast, or the points being left on the field are going to pile up too high for Moore to overlook.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints kicker Blake Grupe ranks last in field goal success rate
