It’s safe to say that Wil Lutz hasn’t forgiven Dennis Allen. The New Orleans Saints head coach traded the former Pro Bowl kicker to the Denver Broncos before this season, where Lutz has gone on to win recognition as AFC Special Teams Player of the Month in November. He previously won the award with the Saints as the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month in September 2018.
Lutz connected on all 11 of his field goal tries in November, leading the AFC, with his 36 kicking points ranking second-best in the conference. On the year so far he’s 24 of 26 on field goals with a success rate of 92.3%, which is his best rate since the 2018 season. He’s also hit 18 of his 20 extra point attempts. Lutz handles kickoffs in Denver, too, where he’s found 52 touchbacks on 56 tries (92.9%).
How does that compare to his replacement Blake Grupe? The rookie is 24 of 30 on field goals this season (and 7 of 9 in November) with a hit rate of 80%. He has connected on all 19 point-after tries, but his touchback rate is just 89.5% (51 of 57). His experience has been a bit of a roller coaster. Dennis Allen’s decision to make a change here hasn’t worked out for the better.
And Lutz is taking notice. After being announced as November’s AFC Special Teams Player of the Month, he had a bit of fun on social media. Keen-eyed Saints fans noticed Lutz had “liked” a series of online posts critical of Allen and calling for his job:
So that might suggest Lutz is in agreement with the “Fire Dennis Allen” movement spreading through Saints communities online. It would be easy to understand why he feels that way after Allen jettisoned him, but continuing to find success with the Broncos might help him look elsewhere.
