The Saints are making a change at kicker. Cade York is set to join the practice squad in New Orleans, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, and Blake Grupe will be waived from the active roster as a result, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
York won the Saints’ kicking job with a successful tryout on Tuesday morning, beating out disgraced former Raven Justin Tucker.
Grupe has had a tough season, his third in the NFL. He made just 10 of his 15 field goal attempts in the first five games of the year with one miss inside of 40 yards and two more inside of 50 yards. He bounced back in his next four games, missing only a 53-yarder and converting all three of his other tries.
However, Grupe regressed in Week 12 against the Falcons, missing from 38 and 47 yards to drop his conversion rate to 69.2% on the year, a significant drop from the 81.1% and 87.1% marks of his first two seasons. The Saints’ coaching staff decided they had seen enough and opted to make a change.
York, a 2022 fourth-round pick by the Browns, made 75% of his kicks as a rookie with five misses inside of 50 yards. The Browns released him during final roster cuts in 2023; he bounced around with a few teams but did not make any appearances that year. York eventually found his way back to Cleveland during the 2024 offseason but again failed to win the starting kicker job. He was traded to the Commanders to kick in Week 1, but missed both of his field goals and was released shortly after.
York was later picked up by the Bengals for five games, during which time he made nine of his 11 field goals and 13 of his 15 extra point attempts. Despite the bounce-back showing in Cincinnati, York did not receive any interest this offseason, but he will get a chance in New Orleans and could lock down the job for the rest of the year with a strong debut in Week 13.
Plenty of massage parlors in NoLa. Sorry Justin, maybe next time
Shuffling deck chairs…
Accused doesn’t mean guilty. “Disgraced” is not appropriate for someone being accused of a crime. If he was guilty why wasn’t he arrested and tried or at least sued civilly? Trial by public opinion with half the facts always gets the verdict right, so why bother going to court at all.
I could be mistaken but didn’t Tucker make a public apology for his behavior after the scandal news broke? Seems strange that someone would apologize if they had done nothing wrong.
You never know these days. May have apologized thinking he could save his job or get another quicker than now.
Hope it goes well for York.
The piece should have never thrown in the “disgraced” tag on Tucker. Some writers just can’t help but put their opinions in what should just be a transaction report about a kicker being let go and another signed.
Sigh…
You’re allowed to express your opinion in the comments section but the writer isn’t allowed to give their opinion?? Sigh….
Of course the writer has an opinion. They are free to have one. But is this just a report about a roster transaction or is it an editorial piece?
Not all printed media is for opinions.
nsideindy – If you are reporting on a subject ( TV news, papers, magazines) you are most certainly not allowed to voice YOUR opinion. You are reporting on the facts. If I’m reading about something that’s news worthy I want to know what happened, how it happened and what are the consequences. Not what the reporter thinks of the situation, their speculation of how it occured, what they think of the aftermath, or what they think of the people involved. Journalism now resembles a Facebook post where everyone wants to give their opinions.
Unless I you work for CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC or MS Now. They pretty much lie every day.