Since the end of the 2020 season, the New Orleans Saints have gone through four different punters in five years. Three separate ones have been used in the last three seasons. Fan favorite Thomas Morstead departed after 2020, and the Saints have failed to replace him with increasingly disastrous results. New Orleans is going a different route in 2026. Early on in free agency, the Saints signed veteran punter Ryan Wright to a four-year contract worth $14 million dollars with $8 million guaranteed.
Ryan Wright signing grade: A
Punter isn’t a high-profile signing. But make no mistake, this was a major need. Wright, who played collegiately for the Tulane Green Wave, returns home with a hefty price tag and bigger expectations. In four years with the Minnesota Vikings, Wright had a gross average of 47.9 yards and net of 42.5 with 101 punts inside the opposing 20-yard line, 39.9% of his attempts.
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Blake Gillikin, Lou Hedley, Matthew Hayball, and Kai Kroeger are the four punters the Saints have used since Morstead left. Collectively in five years, they had an gross average of 45.2, net average of 40.1, and a lower percentage of punts downed inside the 20. Wright had a gross average of 49 yards in 2025, with a net of 44.5 and 25 kicks downed inside the opposing 20. By contrast, Kroeger had 18 punts downed and a 37.3 yard net to finish at the bottom of the league in both categories.
Ryan Wright has the leg to flip field position for the Saints. He also has the accuracy to pin an opponent deep in their territory. Both have been severely lacking for New Orleans since Morstead was in his prime. The Saints have used four undrafted rookies in an attempt to replace him. With Wright, they are getting an established veteran. The Saints invested a lot of money for a punter in hopes of changing those fortunes.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: New Orleans Saints free agency grades: Grading Ryan Wright’s $14M deal