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Saints Re-Sign Punter Blake Gillikin

Blake Gillikin is back as the Saints punter for 2023.

John Hendrix

Saints Re-Sign Punter Blake Gillikin
Saints Re-Sign Punter Blake Gillikin /
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The Saints are re-signing punter Blake Gillikin, according to NewOrleans.Football's Nick Underhill.

Gillikin was a restricted free agent going into the offseason, and New Orleans did not elect to tender of their players. This isn't really a surprise, and something we covered when we looked at the state of the special teams.

We've touched on the restricted tenders before, and a ROFR (Right of First Refusal) will come in at a projected tag of $2,627,000. That's going to make it fairly difficult for New Orleans to bring Gillikin back at that price. Most all of the free agent punters, even the veterans like Thomas Morstead, came in at $1.5 million on the high side. So, Gillikin is going to have to come in at a reasonable price tag to stay with the Saints.

Gillikin can be a huge asset and weapon for the team, and will be looking for a bounce back year. 2022 saw Gillikin's numbers drop in yards per punt, net, and have a higher touchback percentage. However, he did have a better inside the 20-yard-line percentage on his 77 punts, and the unit as a whole surrendered less return yardage.

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New Orleans made moves like signing Juwan Johnson to a two-year contract extension ahead of the new league season, as the emphasis was keeping some of their own players to start. They made several additions on the first official day of the new league year, and won't stop there.

Derek Carr is officially going to be in No. 4 this season, and Gillikin already mentioned earlier on Thursday that he would switch to No. 5.

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John Hendrix
JOHN HENDRIX

I officially started covering the New Orleans Saints & other NFL topics in 2011. My work has been featured on various outlets over the years. I worked closely with Skyhorse Publishing in Fall 2018 to update the book, Tales From the New Orleans Saints Sidelines, which filled in all Saints material from the 2013-2017 seasons. Prior to joining Saints News Network, I served as the Managing Editor of SB Nation's Canal Street Chronicles for 3.5 years, and before that with FanSided's Who Dat Dish as the Managing Editor for several years. I have also had experiences of being a freelance Saints reporter for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, MS and a contributing writer for WDSU, a local NBC TV station in New Orleans. I have appeared on a vast amount of TV and Radio shows, both nationally and locally. For tips, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at johnhendrix@saintsnews.net

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