New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said it would have been nice for kickers John Carney and Garrett Hartley to compete again in practice this week, but the team couldn’t afford to because injury issues at other positions forced them to release Carney on Tuesday. It wasn’t practical to keep both kickers on the active roster, Payton said Wednesday, because they needed more depth at the injury-riddled halfback and safety positions—which led them to sign running back Julius Jones and safety Matt Giordano. “In an ideal world, it would have been nice to keep them both this week,” Payton said. “In the end, it really became a challenge to carry the second kicker. “Garrett has done a good job of responding,” Payton said of Hartley, who missed a 29-yard game-winning field goal against Atlanta on Sept. 26 and was inactive the last two weeks. “I thought he kicked exceptionally well today and had a good week last week. It just became too much of a challenge to carry the extra kicker.”
When asked if the release of the 46-year-old Carney would have been made even if he hadn’t missed a 29-yard field goal in a 30-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Payton said he didn’t know. But he reiterated the need to add another running back and safety was a factor in the team’s decision. “That’s a good question,” Payton said. “Just paying attention to how Garrett is kicking and how he’s responded, without getting into a hypothetical, with the two needs here it just became challenging with that extra specialist.”