Blake Grupe salary: Comparing Saints kicker’s contract with Justin Tucker

New Orleans Saints could do with a better offense and kicker Blake Grupe is under the spotlight because of them underachieving in the first half of their Thursday Night game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Normally, the kicker is not the focus for any well-oiled team. But with the Saints living off of scraps, it suddenly becomes elevated in importance. Derek Carr and the entire offense struggled as they got only six points in the first half. In that, there was a missed field goal attempt from 52 yards by Blake Grupe as well.

He is a rookie in the league and was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame. He has started in the last three games. He began well enough with two field goals in two attempts against the New England Patriots. Then in the last week against the Houston Texans, he scored just two field goals in four attempts and his longest conversion was 48 yards.

Against the Jacksonville Jaguars today, he missed the first attempt and had two out of three attempts converted in the first half, before adding one more in the second.

For his efforts, he gets $2,697,500 over three years with $2500 guaranteed. That is a fraction of what Justin Tucker gets, who is the highest paid kicker in the league. He gets a well-deserved $24,000,000 over four years from the Baltimore Ravens on his current contract and very few will dispute his pay given how pivotal he is with his kicks.

Other veterans who have established themselves in the league include Matt Gay, Graham Gano and Jason Myers.

Derek Carr or Blake Grupe: who should be scrutinized more?

Beyond whatever Blake Grupe does, the reason why he is under the microscope comes down to Derek Carr's performances with the Saints. After moving from the Las Vegas Raiders, he was supposed to revitalize his career here. Instead, it has not gone according to plan.

In seven games this season, he has just five touchdowns and threw his fourth interception in the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Worse, it was returned for a pick-six. But not all the issue lies with the quarterback.

The main problem comes down to a lack of a running game. They are getting 73.5 yards per game, which is the second-worst in the league. Without that option, everything comes down to the quarterback's arm. It does not help that Derek Carr is not really a dual-threat quarterback. It was instructive to see the Saints using Taysom Hill on some running plays instead of him.

But some of the blame must like on Derek Carr as well. The other teams this year with 75 rushing yards per game or below are the Cincinnati Bengals and the Minnesota Vikings.

Joe Burrow has not been exemplary for the Bengals this season, especially with his calf injury. But he has picked up the pace in the last two games, throwing for five touchdowns.

Meanwhile, while the Vikings have struggled, especially with turnovers, Kirk Cousins has not done too badly. His 14 passing touchdowns through seven weeks are the highest in the league.

Derek Carr, on the other hand, has not been able to elevate his game in the absence of the running game. Instead, his throws have been either forced or he has opted for a safe checkdown that did not move the ball downfield enough.

So, while Blake Grupe's performances will definitely be scrutinized following his missed field goals, he is not the primary problem; the rest of the offense is. Given his salary, he is not a big drain on the balance sheet either, which is not the same for Derek Carr and some other offensive players.