Saints kicking battle close

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Aug 12, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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JACKSON, Miss. — In his short tenure with the New Orleans Saints, Sean Payton has shown that he’s not opposed to having two kickers on his roster.

As a rookie head coach in 2006, Payton set the precedent — bringing in Billy Cundiff at midseason to handle kickoffs and long-range field goal attempts, while John Carney stayed with the short and mid-range kicks.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Payton will take the same route this season even though he seems to have the best of both worlds with nine-year veteran Martin Gramatica and rookie Taylor Mehlhaff on his training camp roster.

They have been battling for almost three weeks for what could be one — perhaps two —spots when NFL rosters have to be trimmed to the regular-season limit of 53 players on Aug. 30.

Greg McMahon, the Saints’ first-year special teams coordinator, says he doesn’t know which way Payton is leaning at this point. If he has even the slightest hint, he’s certainly not telling.

“Sean has shown that he would (keep two),” McMahon said coyly. “But these guys control their own destiny. We’re going to kick them all through the preseason, and it’s going to be a competition. When it’s all said and done and you’re ready to cut to 53, you just do what’s best for the team.

“It’s too early to say if we’ll go with two or the one,” he added. “That will take care of itself. There’s really nothing you can do other than to get them out there and see how they respond. Then, we’ll just make the decision.”

Gramatica seemingly had a leg up on the job after he was signed late last season following a season-ending hip injury to Olindo Mare, who struggled to make just 10 of 17 attempts in the first 13 games.

When Gramatica went 5-for-5 in field goals the rest of the season, including a 55-yard bomb against the Philadelphia Eagles, Payton was impressed. The Saints signed Gramatica, who became an unrestricted free agent after the season, to a one-year contract and released Mare two weeks later.

But Gramatica’s direct route to a roster spot took a turn when the Saints took Mehlhaff, a left-footed kicker who earned All-America honors at Wisconsin last season, in the sixth round of the draft this spring.

The strong-legged Mehlhaff made 50 of 65 career field-goal attempts, but he made his name with 123 touchbacks in 287 kickoffs. The average return was 19.5 yards, giving his team a tremendous advantage in the field position battle.

That immediately led to speculation that Payton might think about keeping Gramatica for field goals and Mehlhaff for kickoffs and long field-goal attempts. After three weeks, Payton said the competition is close.

“Both of them are in a strong battle. Both are competing and the good news is they still have three-and-a-half weeks with more games to play and more practices,” Payton said. “It might be a little easier to evaluate that position than some others that might be a little bit more nebulous.”