After being cut by the Minnesota Vikings as a rookie in 2018, Daniel Carlson landed with the still-Oakland Raiders and found solid footing as an NFL kicker over the next seven-plus seasons wearing the Silver and Black.
But since earning a First Team All-Pro nod in 2022, Carlson's proficiency has slowly eroded. As he neared his next contract and another nice potential payday, the Raiders' offense was inept last season, and he made just 81.5 percent of his field goals.
As Las Vegas starts another reset under head coach Klint Kubiak, devoting significant money to a kicker doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So, Carlson was allowed to hit the free agent market this offseason for the first time in a while, and veteran Matt Gay was signed to replace him in Las Vegas.
The Raiders also added University of Hawaii kicker Kansei Matsuzawa, aka "The Tokyo Toe", to their depth chart behind Gay as an undrafted free agent. How serious he is as competition for Gay is an open question, but he figures to be in the running for the job.
Meanwhile, Carlson remains available.
The 31-year old is surely not done as an NFL kicker, so an opportunity seems certain to come his way at some point. Maybe it'll be OTAs or mandatory minicamp somewhere, or maybe he waits until the verge of training camp and lands somewhere he can legitimately come in and win the kicking job.
With that in mind, here are three potential landing spots for the former Raiders kicker.
3 possible landing spots for former Raiders' kicker Daniel Carlson
Philadelphia Eagles
To be entirely fair, it seems as if Eagles fans are much more motivated to replace Jake Elliott than the front office is. But there is also no denying just how much Elliott's performance has fallen off a cliff over the last couple of seasons.
After making just 77.8 percent of his field goals in 2024, Elliott set a career-low for field goal percentage in a season where he had at least 20 attempts last season (73.1 percent). Over the last two years, he has been a dismal 5-for-15 on attempts from 50-plus yards out.
The Eagles could eventually send a strong signal to Elliott and send a message to skeptical fans who have grown weary of him by adding notable competition. Carlson could be that man, and he would step into a nice situation if he could seize the gig.
Washington Commanders
The Commanders employed three kickers last season, including Gay for 10 games, with Jake Moody for six games, and journeyman Matthew Wright for one. The trio combined to make just 76.7 percent of the field goals (23-for-30), which is only marginally better than Carlson's worst season.
Moody is back in the fold for the Commanders for 2026, with undrafted rookie Drew Stevens also in the mix as a formidable-looking competitor.
Moody has somewhat revived his career after the San Francisco 49ers ill-advisedly used a third-round pick on him a few years ago. Stevens probably should have been drafted after a solid career at the University of Iowa, and the Commanders signed him before he was slated to try out at their rookie minicamp.
It's certainly possible that Moody struggles during the summer, and Stevens wins the job almost by default. But Carlson lurks as a more proven option who could eventually land on the radar in Washington.
New Orleans Saints
With a young-ish quarterback in Tyler Shough, a nice array of pieces around him (Chris Olave, Travis Etienne, Jordan Tyson, Juwan Johnson, and Alvin Kamara), and a good group up front, the Saints have the makings of a very good and promising offense under head coach Kellen Moore.
A last-place schedule puts a potentially improved Saints team in position to win a few more games this season, and the NFC South is as wide open as any division in the league. They finished just two games behind a three-way tie for first last season, and five of their 11 losses were by one score.
The Saints turned to Charlie Smyth as the kicker late last season, and he was objectively fine over six games (12-for-16 on field goals; 13-for-13 on extra points). They've added undrafted rookie Mason Shipley for competition over the summer, but it feels like an unsteady competition ripe for someone else to come in and win it.
That someone could, in time, end up being Carlson.
A potential return to the Raiders for Carlson deserves mention. Gay was not a better kicker than him last season, to the point that Washington cut bait in the middle of the season. And Matsuzawa might be more of an OTA/camp hopeful than a legit candidate to win the kicking job.
Projected cost was probably the No.1 factor in the Raiders letting Carlson hit the open market unabated. But as we get deeper into the time before training camp, that will be less and less of a thing, and a reunion is at least vaguely possible.
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