After a year and a half, the Green Bay Packers finally seem to have found their replacement for franchise all-time leading scorer Mason Crosby. Following the 2022 NFL season, Green Bay parted ways with many of their long-time veterans, most notably trading Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets to make way for Jordan Love.
But there were other high-profile players that were not brought back, including Crosby who had an 86.2% field goal percentage and 94.9% extra point percentage in his final season with the Packers.
Since Crosby left, the Packers had Anders Carlson for a season, but his inconsistencies led to his release after training camp this year. Instead, Green Bay held onto Greg Joseph initially, but released him as well when they claimed Brayden Narveson off of waivers from the Tennessee Titans.
Unfortunately, Narveson did not last long with the Packers either.
Brayden Narveson Struggled with the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay, of course, decided to move on from both Carlson and Joseph after each of them performed poorly during training camp and in the preseason. Carlson, the incumbent, made 81.8% of his field goals in 2023, but only 87.5% of his extra points. He also led the NFL in missed kicks.
Narveson, an undrafted rookie this year, had a solid preseason with the Titans, but was waived in favor of long-time kicker Nick Folk.
While Narveson made all of his extra points as the Packers kicker, he struggled with his field goals. In six games, he made just 70.6% of his attempts, including a woeful 5/9 mark on kicks between 40-49 yards.
Green Bay released the rookie after six games and replaced him with Brandon McManus, who has made 93.3% of his kicks this year and 100% of his field goals.
“I don’t know what it is about that position, but it just seems to take some time for the younger kickers to figure it out,” Matt LaFleur said of the kicker position a few weeks ago. “But yeah, to have a guy where — I don’t even really watch it all the time now. I just kind of move on to the next thing.”
While the Packers have finally found their answer at kicker, their former candidates have also found work on other teams around the NFL.
Former Green Bay Packers Kicker Brayden Narveson Is Back with the Tennessee Titans
A little over a week ago, it was reported that Narveson had finally found a new job: back with his original team. The Titans signed their former rookie kicker to their practice squad amidst Folk suffering an injury.
This season, Folk leads the NFL with a 95.5% field goal percentage and has made all of his extra points. However, he suffered an abdomen injury and is questionable for Sunday. With his status in doubt, Narveson has been signed to their active roster.
As noted by Mike Garafolo above, the Titans are also adding a year to Narveson’s contract, which will keep him on their 90-man roster when the new league year starts. Folk, who has a 96.2% field goal percentage in two seasons with Tennessee, is 40 years old this year. As NFL fans have seen from Justin Tucker this year (70.4% field goal percentage, which is astounding for the kicker who hold the NFL record for highest career field goal percentage-89%), a kicker can become ineffective quickly and suddenly.
Carlson, as many fans know, is currently kicking for the Jets after spending a brief stint with the San Francisco 49ers earlier this season. He has made 92.3% of his field goals this year, but just 85.7% of his extra points.
Joseph is currently kicking for the Washington Commanders after spending some time with the New York Giants this season. He has made 78.9% of his field goals and all of his extra point attempts.
