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New Orleans Saints kicker Wil Lutz will have core muscle surgery, per his Twitter account. Lutz says that he is choosing to have surgery now as his injury continues to worsen and he wants to miss the fewest amount of games.
Position players usually miss around eight weeks with this surgery, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, but a kicker could miss even more time. With one month until the season starts, Lutz could miss over four games. Add this to wide receiver Michael Thomas’ surgery and the Saints aren’t receiving the best injury news this preseason.
Lutz has been one of the best fantasy kickers in years past, but without Drew Brees it’s hard to know exactly how often the Saints offense will get into field goal range. Lutz is now undraftable in fantasy and whoever ends up replacing him might not have as much upside as Saints kickers have had in the past.