Is Taylor Melhaff a must add? (1 Viewer)

[Dexter Manley]

Just realized that this guy took over the Saints kicking duties for dirty Gramatica. I know he went 2 for 3 on fg's last week, but I didn't see him kick. What is this guy's kicking ability? Does he have the leg to hit from 50+ out? Is consistent from 40 - 49 yards?

Here are some positives I do know:

- New Orleans plays in a dome (although their home game vs. San Diego is in England) and 3 of their 6 remaining road games are in domes (ATL x2, Det).

- The Saints have arguably the best offense in the league, so he should get plenty of chances.

The negatives:

- New Orleans bye is in 2 weeks, so you would need a replacement for 1 game.

- Week 15 is @Chi so weather could be a factor. This is important because it's the semi-finals in most leagues.

Is this guy a much better choice than the typical waiver wire guys in most leagues (i.e. Vinaterri, Suisham, etc.)?

 

[Lobary]

No kicker is a must add.

 

[towney]

I'd wait it out and see what happens with the Giants kickers. Rumblings say Tynes will get the job back and Carney could get released next week. Carney could quite possibly end up with the Saints.

 

[Dexter Manley]

I'd wait it out and see what happens with the Giants kickers. Rumblings say Tynes will get the job back and Carney could get released next week. Carney could quite possibly end up with the Saints.

Hadn't heard this, thanks for the info!

 

[Dexter Manley]

No kicker is a must add.

Whenever someone speaks in absolutes, they are almost always wrong.

 

[Sonny Lubick Blowup Doll]

I'd wait it out and see what happens with the Giants kickers. Rumblings say Tynes will get the job back and Carney could get released next week. Carney could quite possibly end up with the Saints.

Fair enough, but is this just you speculating; or something you've read/heard?

 

[jetmonkey]

Just realized that this guy took over the Saints kicking duties for dirty Gramatica. I know he went 2 for 3 on fg's last week, but I didn't see him kick. What is this guy's kicking ability? Does he have the leg to hit from 50+ out? Is consistent from 40 - 49 yards?Here are some positives I do know:- New Orleans plays in a dome (although their home game vs. San Diego is in England) and 3 of their 6 remaining road games are in domes (ATL x2, Det).- The Saints have arguably the best offense in the league, so he should get plenty of chances.The negatives:- New Orleans bye is in 2 weeks, so you would need a replacement for 1 game.- Week 15 is @Chi so weather could be a factor. This is important because it's the semi-finals in most leagues. Is this guy a much better choice than the typical waiver wire guys in most leagues (i.e. Vinaterri, Suisham, etc.)?

Under negatives - lost the job in training camp.

 

[Dexter Manley]

I'd wait it out and see what happens with the Giants kickers. Rumblings say Tynes will get the job back and Carney could get released next week. Carney could quite possibly end up with the Saints.

Fair enough, but is this just you speculating; or something you've read/heard?

Just found another thread that deals with this. It appears to confirm the rumblings: http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index...howtopic=429860.

 

[Breesisdaman]

As a SAints fan I can tell you that his potential could be great but he has not been solid enough yet to say he is a must add.

 

[Dexter Manley]

Just realized that this guy took over the Saints kicking duties for dirty Gramatica. I know he went 2 for 3 on fg's last week, but I didn't see him kick. What is this guy's kicking ability? Does he have the leg to hit from 50+ out? Is consistent from 40 - 49 yards?Here are some positives I do know:- New Orleans plays in a dome (although their home game vs. San Diego is in England) and 3 of their 6 remaining road games are in domes (ATL x2, Det).- The Saints have arguably the best offense in the league, so he should get plenty of chances.The negatives:- New Orleans bye is in 2 weeks, so you would need a replacement for 1 game.- Week 15 is @Chi so weather could be a factor. This is important because it's the semi-finals in most leagues. Is this guy a much better choice than the typical waiver wire guys in most leagues (i.e. Vinaterri, Suisham, etc.)?

Under negatives - lost the job in training camp.

Definitely a negative.

 

[Dexter Manley]

As a SAints fan I can tell you that his potential could be great but he has not been solid enough yet to say he is a must add.

What's his main issue? Consistency? I'm assuming he's got a very strong leg since he was drafted.After gathering more info it has become apparent that he's definitely not a must add. There's a lot of risk long-term (wrt this season) it seems.

 

[shredhead]

I added him off the wire this week. I dropped Lindell for him (we have to roster 2 kickers).I don't know anything about him besides he was originally drafted this year to take over the kicking job... but he must've not been accurate enough. He was splitting time in the preseason w/ Gramattica... but I guess the team wanted to roll w/ the vet.

I added him last week as well (Bironas was on his bye) I read as much as I could about him, and learned that he lost the job in training camp because of his kickoffs not his field goal ability. Apparently too many kickoffs in preseason were going out of bounds. Sorry for not having a link to this information as I don't remember where I saw it. I'm not to worried about it though, it seems like he is a good add at this point. If he does lose his job then there is always a kicker on the wire, so who cares.

 

[Warhogs]

No kicker is a must add.

Whenever someone speaks in absolutes, they are almost always wrong.

In this case the absolute is almost always correct.

 

[PranksterJD]

I added him off the wire this week. I dropped Lindell for him (we have to roster 2 kickers).

I don't know anything about him besides he was originally drafted this year to take over the kicking job... but he must've not been accurate enough. He was splitting time in the preseason w/ Gramattica... but I guess the team wanted to roll w/ the vet.

I added him last week as well (Bironas was on his bye) I read as much as I could about him, and learned that he lost the job in training camp because of his kickoffs not his field goal ability. Apparently too many kickoffs in preseason were going out of bounds. Sorry for not having a link to this information as I don't remember where I saw it. I'm not to worried about it though, it seems like he is a good add at this point. If he does lose his job then there is always a kicker on the wire, so who cares.

The bolded is correct. He botched too many kickoffs to keep even Martin Gramatica out of the job. I also believe that his accuracy record at Wisconsin wasn't great ( Taylor "Make-half", I believe it was? ( thanks to obx and pretender for that info )). There was also another study that came through FBG in the offseason which talked about New Orleans having a consistently bad rating for Kickers. I don't remember where it was, but it was something on the level of them being 15th in the NFL for PK production over the past couple of years (or something like that). Part of it was attributable to mediocre Kickers playing for the team. Part of it was that you get a lot more extra points than you do field goals. Quick math puts Gramatica around PK14 or so, even if he had been 100%. Haven't checked those stats, but I'm not ositive that the offensive power of the Saints transfers to their kickers that well.

Point of all that is that Mehlhaff is an interesting pickup if you're playing matchups or have a middle tier kicker and want to take a shot at a potential top tier guy. That said, I probably would keep hold of even the PK5-PK8 types ( Scobee, Akers, etc ) if you've been riding them so far.

 

[bonesman]

I added him off the wire this week. I dropped Lindell for him (we have to roster 2 kickers).

I don't know anything about him besides he was originally drafted this year to take over the kicking job... but he must've not been accurate enough. He was splitting time in the preseason w/ Gramattica... but I guess the team wanted to roll w/ the vet.

I added him last week as well (Bironas was on his bye) I read as much as I could about him, and learned that he lost the job in training camp because of his kickoffs not his field goal ability. Apparently too many kickoffs in preseason were going out of bounds. Sorry for not having a link to this information as I don't remember where I saw it. I'm not to worried about it though, it seems like he is a good add at this point. If he does lose his job then there is always a kicker on the wire, so who cares.

Thanks for the info

 

[Breesisdaman]

As a SAints fan I can tell you that his potential could be great but he has not been solid enough yet to say he is a must add.

What's his main issue? Consistency? I'm assuming he's got a very strong leg since he was drafted.After gathering more info it has become apparent that he's definitely not a must add. There's a lot of risk long-term (wrt this season) it seems.

He missed one FG and hit one in his only NFL start also kicked a kick off out of bounds resulting in a penalty. Not must add numbers if you ask me

 

[coyote5]

... I also believe that his accuracy record at Wisconsin wasn't great ( Taylor "Make-half", I believe it was? ( thanks to obx and pretender for that info )).

FYI, he was 20/24 in 2007; 78.3% for his career...

 

[NYG Endzone]

He must be! JohnnyU just snatched him up!

 

[[scooter]]

Saints cut kicker Melhaff and punter Graham