The Saints are signing Daniel Carlson on Monday, Aug. 24, adding a proven kicker to a preseason race that had still been unsettled. NFL insiders Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport reported the move, which brings the 31-year-old into New Orleans at a point when the team needed a clearer answer at the position.
Carlson arrives with a longer track record than the two kickers the Saints had been weighing this preseason. He played at Auburn from 2013 to 2017, was drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round of the 2018 draft and was cut by the Vikings after missing three field-goal attempts in a game that year. He then landed with the Las Vegas Raiders, where he became a two-time All-Pro and tied for the NFL scoring lead in 2020-21.
That history helps explain why the move lands now. The Saints had been trying to decide between Charlie Smyth and Tanner Brown, and signing Carlson shifts the competition from an open preseason evaluation to one built around a veteran with production that already stands up across multiple seasons. For a team that had not settled the job, the addition of Carlson is a meaningful change in both experience and ceiling.
The one thing the report does not settle is whether Carlson walks in and becomes the Saints' starter immediately. What it does make clear is that New Orleans is no longer shopping for upside alone; it is reaching for certainty, and Carlson has spent the last several years proving he can supply it.
