Packers bring in stiff competition for struggling kicker: Why Anders Carlson could be out after just one year

For the third time in three years, the Green Bay Packers could have a new placekicker. 

The team’s kicker last season was rookie Anders Carlson, but there’s no guarantee he’s going to be sticking around after the Packers made the decision to sign Greg Joseph on Tuesday, according to his agent, Brett Tessler. The former Vikings kicker spent the his past three seasons in Minnesota, but the two sides decided to part ways after Joseph’s contract expired following the 2023 season. 

With Joseph now on the roster, that means that Packers will almost certainly be holding a kicking competition at training camp. The fact that Green Bay decided to sign Joseph isn’t a surprise at all, and that’s because Carlson struggled for most of 2023. 

Although Carlson got off to a hot start as a rookie by hitting his first seven field goals of the season, he fell apart after that, hitting just 76.9% of his field goals after Week 6. He also missed a huge kick during the fourth quarter of Green Bay’s 24-21 divisional round playoff loss to the 49ers. 

Thanks to that miss, Carlson ended the year with at least one missed kick (field goal or extra point) in five straight games. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was clearly frustrated with the misses. 

“I don’t know,” LaFleur said after the 49ers loss when asked about the misses. “I think if we had the answer we would have fixed it, right. So, certainly just got to work on the consistency. We’ve seen him do it. We know what he’s capable (of), but you’ve got to be consistent in order to last in this league.”

Although Carlson struggled at times, he did still manage to hit 81.8% of his kicks as a rookie, which was actually better than what Joseph did last year in Minnesota when he hit 80% of his field goals for the Vikings. 

If Joseph does have an edge right now, it’s the fact that he’s already proven he can hit kicks in the clutch and he’s been solid on…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/packers-bring-in-stiff-competition-for-struggling-kicker-why-anders-carlson-could-be-out-after-just-one-year/

Author : John Breech

Publish date : 2024-03-26 17:46:59

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