The New Orleans Saints have brought back one of their most consistent offensive performers. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, incumbent restricted free agent kicker Wil Lutz has agreed to a five-year deal that will keep him with the Saints for the foreseeable future.
#Saints K Wil Lutz has agreed to terms on a 5-year deal, source said. He was an RFA.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 13, 2019
There was speculation that New Orleans might deem it most financially prudent to move on from Lutz given his salary demands and status as a restricted free agent.
The Saints could have issued him a one-year tender and dared Lutz to find a long-term deal elsewhere, too, but doing so only would have proven beneficial if they had placed a first or second-round tag on Lutz rather than an original-round tag because the Georgia State product was an undrafted free agent.
Evidently, New Orleans decided cutting into its future spending ability by locking up Lutz for the next half decade was a superior option to letting the team's long-time revolving door at kicker spin once again.
A third-year veteran, Lutz put together the finest season his career in 2018, going 28-of-30 on field goal attempts and 52-of-53 on extra points. He also made 2-of-3 kicks from 50 yards or more, including a 54-yarder. The 24 year old was nearly as good one season earlier, when he went 47-of-50 on field goals, led the league in extra points by connecting on 47-of-50, and made 4-of-5 from beyond 50 yards. His career long field goal is 57 yards.
The Saints have been pretty quiet over a frenzied first two days of free agency overall, retaining several incumbents like Lutz but signing just one new player, running back Latavius Murray.
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