The Packers are moving on from their initial Mason Crosby replacement. Holding a three-man competition at camp, Green Bay still has two of those options on the roster. But the incumbent — Anders Carlson — is no longer in the picture.
Carlson received notice he will be waived today, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports. This leaves Greg Joseph and UDFA rookie Alex Hale on the team. It would surprise if Joseph is not the pick here, given his experience.
Chosen in the 2023 sixth round, Carlson missed five extra points as a rookie. He missed six field goals as well, going 27-for-33. A costly miss in the Packers’ narrow divisional-round loss to the 49ers ensued as well, and Green Bay went about creating a competition. Joseph, who served as the Vikings’ kicker for the past three seasons, signed this offseason. Also jettisoned after his rookie year (in Cleveland), Joseph has stabilized his career in the NFC North.
Anders Carlson followed his brother (Daniel) by kicking at Auburn en route to being a Day 3 pick. Anders will also traverse his brother’s footsteps, transaction-wise, as an NFC North team (the Vikings) waived Daniel after a short time. Daniel Carlson has since recovered from his Vikings cut, which occurred two games into his career, having bounced back with the Raiders.
Joseph, 30, signed a one-year deal featuring no guaranteed money. If he is on Green Bay’s Week 1 roster, which seems likely, his $1.29MM salary will lock in. Despite kicking primarily in a dome, Joseph fared worse — percentage-wise, that is — than Carlson last season by going 24-for-30 on field goal tries. During the Vikings’ 2022 division-winning season, Joseph made just 78.8% of his FG attempts.
Joseph went 3-for-4 on preseason field goals, with Carlson doing the same this month. This competition spanned months, however, dating back to offseason activities. Teams have until 11am CT on Wednesday to submit waiver claims. Three years remain on Carlson’s rookie deal, making him an interesting option for a kicker-needy club.
A kicker will win or lose 2-3 games a year. Anders only lost games when the Packers needed a big kick.
While I’m surprised if he in fact is let go (since it implies Gute wasted a draft pick/didn’t give the guy at least 4 years to figure it out..), I’m not at all surprised the “solution”…is a guy (if, in fact,
Joseph is the guy) who has actually been worse, head-to-head, in camp and preseason.
But hey, maybe the new backup qb can kick…
Thank God. This man cost them game after game.
Welcome to the NFL, where as a kicker you learn to rent everything and never own anything so you can move from team to team and have a long and profitable career.