Kellen Moore on waiving Blake Grupe, kicker competition | New Orleans Saints

medical report today. Uh so Alvin was a DMP with the uh knee and ankle. Uh Ty was limited with the ankle. Devin was limited with the ankle. Uh CO was limited with the back. So those are just the four guys listed on there. Uh obviously from a roster standpoint made a few moves yesterday. Obviously the one that’s going to be noteworthy is uh releasing Blake. Uh we signed Cade to the uh practice squad and obviously um we’ll let Kade and Charlie kind of go through this week’s process and make a decision on the back end of the week and be ready to roll. So competition like you said or is it more? Yeah, they’ll both get an opportunity to kick tomorrow and we’ll just kind of see where everything uh progresses and uh you know feel good about both those guys. They they’ve uh they’ve kicked well and so we’re excited for those guys. Chris, did Chris ever return to practice after he left or he never came back? Yeah, just he just had a little little thing with the back limited him today. No big deal. So, did that did that prevent him from practicing or he came back un? Yeah, he was just limited today just with what he could do. You know, today was mostly a walkthrough practice for us anyways. So, um, what we did, um, was kind of a little bit of some speed work early in practice and then after that, we kind of got to more of a walkthrough time, walk through tempo with the rest of practice. And so, um, we’re good to go. Is Alens the kind of thing when you expect him maybe to miss a week or two or do you think he got shot? Yeah, we’ll just see how it goes. Uh, let the week let the week play itself out. Um, let the medical side of this thing really really go for it. And so, uh, we’ll see how this thing progresses. Are you optimistic that Deon will be okay? Yeah, De Deon’s Deon was limited, so he was still able to practice out there. Again, mostly a walkthrough setting for for us today, but uh he was able to move around in the in the movement periods and then the walkthrough he was he was clean and so uh you know, those guys are just on a maintenance thing. They just got to work through it. What’s like the det? Probably factors in starting with how the defense reacts to tempo. Uh that’s one thing. And then second is usually, you know, you’d love to get to a ton of tempo, but you got to get to it in ideal situations. Um, you know, you you you got to be conscious of the other side of the football as the other side of the football played a ton of snaps. You know, when we’re speaking about our defense, you know, for example, this last game, our defense on the field a lot early in the early in the game, uh, you got to be conscious of that. Um, you know, and as the drives extend, then, you know, you provide yourself a little bit more time to play with some tempo. And so, uh, something we’d always like to do, but you got to put yourself, you got to have positive gains on first down to lead into second and third and earn first downs. And, you know, that’s the way you can play with tempo. What like about in the try out process? Yeah, I thought he kicked well yesterday. Uh, we went through a process obviously as we had as we had discussed. Um, you I think he’s a guy who uh has has kicked in this league before a couple times now. Uh, he’s continued to progress. you know, these guys um these guys get better each and every opportunity. Even when it’s, you know, kicking is a unique experience where you’re continuing to develop. Even if you’re not on a roster, there’s so much development going on on their own with kicking specialists and different people and uh their training continues to grow and so uh felt like he kicked well yesterday and earned the opportunity to to be in here. Did you have any better than Justin Tucker or No, we just we went through a process and uh you know kicked kicked all those guys yesterday. made a decision that uh we were going to sign Kade and Charlie’s here and Charlie kicked kicked kicks has kicked well lately and so um you know we’re just going to go through a due diligence thing. We did it with running backs and receivers as well. And how did how did uh Blake factor into that? I mean was there anything yesterday that could have made the decision? I mean we had talked through it. It was going to be an evaluation process for those other three. Uh see how that thing went yesterday. uh felt like there was some some good good work in there for those guys and so felt comfortable with making this move. It’s not easy. Uh I think the world of Blake uh he’s going to be a really good kicker in this league and uh if you look at the history of a lot of kickers in this league, they have maybe a moment similar to this where you know they got to navigate something. They respond really really well. Uh he’s going to kick in this league for a long time. He’s going to have a ton of success uh you know kind of navigating this. And then with Kate, obviously you brought in two guys. One was a veteran and one was a young player. So there wasn’t a clear run or reason, but Do you like the idea of it being that 24 year old who you can evaluate over these six, seven weeks and and you know like what that developmental? No, that’s that’s a good question. I think uh you know you can kick in this league for a long time. Uh we do feel like at the end day it was the best decision for our team. Uh felt like Kade kicked well yesterday and so I think that’s the most important part of it. You know he felt like he kicked well, earned the opportunity. Uh it wasn’t a necessarily an age thing. It was, you know, it felt like he uh he kicked well and Charlie kicked has kicked well and so we got two guys that will continue to develop here. Six straight games have not reached 20 points. No offensive touchdowns last week. Obviously not what you’re used to. Where does fixing that start? What has to be the launching point for getting that? Yeah, that’s a great question. Obviously, uh you know, that’s not the formula. Uh you know, that’s something we got to do a better job there. I think it starts with running the football on first and second down and having the ability to, you know, be consistent in that element. You got to be more efficient on first and second down, put yourself in obviously more favorable third downs and then uh ultimately finish drives with touchdowns, you know, and that’s that’s the most important factor of this thing. And we haven’t been able to get that done consistently enough. Uh we’ve had moments. I think that’s the thing that, you know, there’s individual players that have really good moments, individual uh drives that have really good moments. Uh it’s just about the consistency and the details of of being able to perform at that high of a level for, you know, and sustain it over the course of a game and and drives and uh all that stuff. Was there kind of an added emphasis on getting from the high red zone to low red zone this past week? It seemed like a lot of Yeah, we ran the ball a lot in there. Felt like uh there was some opportunities there. Felt like we progressed well and and gained some yards. We just weren’t able to finish it really inside the 5 yardd line. And so, uh, that was a little bit of the story of that game. Unfortunate, frustrating. We missed those opportunities because, u, you know, I felt like we did a good job of continuing to run the football to get to get in that favorable situation and we just weren’t able to get the very end. [Music] I don’t know. Um, we’ll always evaluate those things. Uh, we obviously they always communicate. They always do a good job of communicating if anything were to come up. Um, but, uh, you know, there’s always dialogue with those guys. if he wasn’t able to go or if he can’t play Sunday, how confident are you in Deon and um based on what you’ve seen the past couple of weeks, how how has he grown as a player in this offense? Yeah, I think Devin’s doing doing really well. He’s progressed uh really really well. You know, once we uh once we lost Kendra, he was ready to just hop up there and take advantage of opportunities. I thought protection has always been a strong suit of his and he’s he’s shown that from going all the way back to college. Um, you know, this past game, the thing that you’re most excited about is, you know, he made some plays. He made some explosives off of simple checkdown plays where he was able to gain some yards there. Had a nice explo explosive essentially on a screen. And so, there were some positive plays in there. I think his confidence is growing. Um, you know, you’re excited about him as well as these younger guys. You know, we signed a couple guys during the middle of the season that we feel good about as well that are, uh, hopping in here and they’re ready for the opportunity as well. Can you share a little bit about what you’ve seen from Andre since he’s been here? really impressed with how quickly he was able to adapt. Uh physical player. Um he can do a variety of things. I think just the physicality definitely shows up. You can recognize that. But again, I think for his ability to acclimate this quickly and you know, be a smart heady player, understands the system, understands the responsibilities. Um you know, we’ve felt very comfortable very quickly with him. When your personnel changes, like specifically receiver, she goes, like does that change your philosophy of like what you’re putting in, how you design, and how you want to like how does that affect like the global picture of the off? Yeah, there’s always little nuances that change as the personnel changes. Um, you know, there’s certain things that she does that are are really really special. And so, um, you know, at the same time, tip tip I thought did a bunch of really good stuff in this game. I thought his ability to hop in there, play a bunch of snaps, and, uh, you I thought he went on some routes whether the ball came to him or not. I thought there’s some evidence to support that he he had a really good game. Vale has continued to play this really really uh important role for us and that’ll continue for moving forward for a while and so he does a ton of stuff in the run game, the action game that it will provide and then uh I thought he made some really good contested catches in the middle of the field and so you know those guys all have different skill sets, different opportunities and so you know we just got to adjust as we go. I was going to ask what do you think allowed him to have that success kind of in that that short area? Yeah, I thought I thought credit to Tyler. There are some pressure situations where he recognized the pressure, was able to get the ball out of his hands. Bailey did a really good job of staying thin through the uh through the slant and being able to catch the ball in some contested situations, which is important. Along those lines, the without Brandon Cooks, AK’s injured, McCoy’s injured, she’s I mean like there’s a leadership dynamic that kind of has changed on that side of the ball. How does that affect that side of the ball in particular? Leadership and then maybe Does it give an opportunity for some of your younger guys that haven’t been in step into that? Yeah, I think it it’s all about opportunity for these guys. Uh for Tyler, for uh for Tally, for Kelvin, for a bunch of these guys, the perimeter guys, you know, CO I think has been a great lead by example guy. I think his work ethic, the way he practices has been a great example to the younger guys. Um you know, the voices are starting to starting to rise and I think that’s a good thing. You know, those guys are finding their finding their space, how they can lead in their own personality, and their own situation. Obviously, it’s going to be an important development thing for our for our roster as we continue to grow. What are the other things that you sort of identify progress for for players in that situation that might not necessarily reflect on the scoreboard or record? I think for the younger guys, just their comfort level in the system, their ability to communicate. I think that’s always a sign when they can communicate with their with their guys that that’s a sense that they really know the responsibilities and they know what they’re being asked to do. Uh, and you can sense that. And then I think it’s just all the little I don’t think it’s a raw speech. We don’t need to have these big rahrra speeches by individuals and ask, you know, Tyler to go up there and do do a new Rocky thing or anything like that. It’s, you know, how they lead, you know, when they’re breaking down the period or when there’s a mistake that happens on the field or there’s a correction or, hey, I want this route a little bit different. Um, you know, all those little nuances when you get guys that have that comfort level to communicate a really high level, I think that’s the most important aspect of it. Have you noticed that from Justin Reed at all or just like Yeah, going back to Yeah, when you look at the whole team perspective, I think u Justin’s an incredible leader. Uh his focus, his details, the way he plays, the way he prepares, it’s really, really special. He’s a guy that, you know, you just want to show a lot of young guys just say, “Hey, watch this guy, you know, watch this guy. Watch the way he works, the way he trains, uh everything he does during the week. Uh he is the perfect example for uh what that means to me.” Cam and Dearo a little bit older like is it important to have that voice kind of along? I think there’s a lot of I think we got some good leadership on the defensive side and I think that’s a that’s a great testament to those guys. Uh Cam and Deario have led this for a long time. They’ll continue to lead it. uh Justin Grando, uh Chase, you know, Pete, uh the younger backend guys, like you know, we got a lot of guys I think that practice the right way, train the right way, have the right mindset, and um I’m excited for those guys to continue to grow. You uh you made a game season this year. Yeah, I thought excellent leadership. I thought he’s made some u impactful plays in some critical situations. You know, I think uh you’ve seen the evidence of support. You know, he’s still playing. He’s still playing really well. And so, uh, you know, the past few weeks, he’s made a couple impact plays. Uh, really the last two weeks he’s made a huge impact play that, uh, were, uh, were sacks. And so, you continue to see that and you can sense, you know, he does a really good job with the younger guys just guiding them along the way as as well. When you look at, I mean, the last last couple years, his his like numbers have been down just in terms of pass rushing production. Did you see more there that, you know, wasn’t wasn’t there last? I think he’s done some nice work this year. uh obviously not factoring in the past few years when I wasn’t here. I think uh you know he’s done some really good work. I think he’s continued to battle. Um you know he was asked to play a lot of snaps early just because of Chase. And I think now we’ve kind of found this nice rotation for all these um you know edge rushers and allowed them all to kind of play and uh rotate and play at a really high level. When you’re looking at the Dolphins, do you see anything like what do you see as the difference in the last two weeks? Like the what has it been that’s sort of woken them up in the last two weeks? Yeah, the speed’s come alive on offense. They’ve made some plays, you know, with their with their skilled players. Um, you know, from a defense perspective, they’re just doing an excellent job. They’re playing really really sound football. Um, you know, I think, uh, limited explosive plays, not a ton of passing yards. Uh, you know, to, you know, last three games essentially is, you know, somewhere in that 13 to 10 point range. Uh, they’re just playing really good football. Can you learn everything you need to know about quarterback in like eight, nine games? Is that a big enough sample to kind of feel confident like by the end? You’re going to learn a lot. Uh you’re going to learn a lot two years and three years and four years and um you know, I I think there’s a lot of growth each and every year for quarterbacks. Um, you know, I I I think I I watched uh Matthew Matthew had an interview with Jason Garrett on Sunday Night Football and so I watched that just because I know both those guys pretty well and um it’s a good reminder of his journey, you know, through Detroit and through all those experiences and going to Los Angeles and uh you know, there’s a lot of quarterbacks that go a lot of different paths and just the growth is just um each and every week, each and every week, each and every opportunity and um they’re not all going to be perfect, but you’re going to get to grow each and every time and uh you know, I feel like Tyler’s doing a really good job the last few weeks. Just to clarify after the game said that after he did some things that he had no time or was it ever done? It was just playing some of the running back stuff which you know obviously he’s had limited roles in the past past few years. um you know once we kind of lost Alvin for the rest of the game really you know um you know we were going to need Ta just to alleviate some of that running back role a little bit and so uh it was stuff that you know was probably he hasn’t necessarily done recently at all but uh you know he he prepares the right way he’s always ready to rock and roll and so um you know it was awesome you know he gave us some really good third down runs that were incredible to get us some first downs he lined up like eight nine yards back on one of his handouts is that just how he preferred to see. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Okay. And just does his presence make it easier? You’ve only had two running backs up on the last several weeks. Is that is that because you know he he provided an in insurance role. Um you know, the tight ends provided a little bit of a protection insurance role. It’s not something you ideally love to do a ton of. Uh obviously it kind of um last week, you know, losing Alvin that quickly kind of put us in a little bit of a goofy spot, but uh you know, we’ll see how it progresses. Obviously, Taesm has the ability to do so many different things. He kind of helps helps solve a lot of things which is pretty special. With him providing that insurance but not having kind of gotten the time on task for that role. Is it just challenging sometimes with the amount of things that he does to kind of get everything in a week? Yeah, it’s it’s special obviously his ability to do this for, you know, however many years he’s done it now. Um, you know, it’s a testament to him. He he has a amazing ability to be able to prepare in so many different facets of the offense. you know, there’s run blocking surfaces, there’s pass game, there’s run game, there’s, you know, the potential of a quarterback play. Uh, his ability to prepare for all these different things is is really impressive. Is this explosiveness unlimited by coming off an injury? Like, are you still seeing that same I thought I think he’s playing really good football. Um, you know, obviously collectively for all of us, we’re trying to find some more explosive plays here and there, but um, yeah, I thought he’s been he’s been battling really well. This might be confirmation bias, but it seems like every time you guys do a drive where you kind of go under center and you’re like, we’re going to go heavy around the ball, like it’s been really successful. Like why doesn’t that blend? Like is that is that hard to blend in with like is that circumstantial or like why isn’t there more of that just under center game in general? Under center game in general kind of approach works very well. Yeah. No, I think under center games obviously there’s a lot of positives to it. the ability to run the football. You’re not, you know, leaning into which way you’re running or or not running. Um, you know, tying the pass game is always important. There’s a protection component of it when you’re under center that you have to be a little bit conscious of. But, um, you know, I think we’ve added it as we’ve gone kind of the last few weeks and so I think, you know, probably you’ve seen us play more under center lately and we’ll probably continue to do that. Um, you know, I think the bigger personnel definitely provide you that opportunity. Obviously third downs are third downs and some of the passing situations you’re going to be a little bit more gun oriented there. But uh I think it’s been been a fun thing that we’ve been able to add to it. Can a play caller have a bad day? You know what I mean? Like you just have you got here’s a third and four menu and you just pick the wrong one or something. I wish I had that one back kind of thing. It happen every game. Every game uh it happens. I learned that really quickly the first year I called plays. uh no matter what happens, good or bad, you’re always going to have plays you want back. It’s and like in any profession, um you’re always going to learn and grow from each and every experience. And so, um yeah. Is there a sense of kind of play caller having to have the the short-term memory or the short memory that we talk about for like defensive backs and things like that? Like, is that something that as a play caller you have to have as well? Yeah, I mean, you got to move on. Uh obviously things happen really quickly. uh you have a few seconds between each play to make a decision and you got to make decisions fast and and u and give our guys a chance to compete. Um was that back injury something you’ve been dealing with all week or no? No. Yep. Thanks. All right. Thanks, guys.

New Orleans Saints head Coach Kellen Moore speaks with the media from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Wednesday, November 26, 2025 ahead of Week 13 vs. the Miami Dolphins.
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