Saints coach Sean Payton wasn’t happy with his long snappers last week, so the team has decided to make a change.
Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate reports that the team has released Thomas Gafford and Chase Dominguez and signed Justin Drescher. Drescher spent the last seven years with the team, but was not re-signed after becoming a free agent this offseason.
The decision to bring him back comes after the Saints tried three different long snapping options -- Gafford was signed to replace Jesse Schmitt -- and isn’t a major surprise after Payton was critical of the work in that area.
“Both of them are having up and down camps,” Payton said. “They’ll have a day when they look good and sometimes a day where they look poor. From a consistency standpoint, I’m sure those two are competing. We were a little low today on a handful of the snaps. The other day, I felt we were a bit inconsistent. You would like to see a little bit greater location consistency for your punter.”
The Saints have also signed kicker Patrick Murray on Sunday as they make changes in the kicking game ahead of their first preseason game of the summer.