Shortly before the 2026 season started, the New Orleans Saints signed kicker Daniel Carlson with the hope that he would provide some veteran stability to what had been a weak spot on the roster in recent years.

The team ended that relationship Tuesday, releasing Carlson after a rocky seven-game stretch.

Carlson missed four of his 12 field goal attempts, with all the misses coming from 50 or more yards. Carlson also missed a pair of extra-point attempts. Through eight weeks, the Saints were tied with three other teams for the worst field goal percentage in the NFL, and only former Los Angeles Rams kicker Harrison Mevis had a worse field goal percentage than Carlson through the season’s first eight weeks. The Rams cut Mevis on Oct. 13.

New Orleans signed Carlson days before the final preseason game. The former All-Pro had experienced plenty of success in his NFL career but was coming off a down year with the Las Vegas Raiders. He missed at least one kick or extra point in six of the seven games he played with New Orleans.

Earlier this week, coach Kellen Moore indicated the team would not bring in another kicker to compete with Carlson. New Orleans already has one other kicker on the practice squad in Charlie Smyth, who showed potential last season while handling place-kicking duties for the final six games.

Smyth competed with free agent Tanner Brown throughout training camp but was too inconsistent in the practice setting for the team to feel comfortable moving forward with him for the regular season. Special-teams coordinator Phil Galiano pointed out earlier this year that most of Smyth’s misses came from the left hash, and that his issues were likely technical in nature.