The Green Bay Packers have very questions surrounding their roster going into the 2024 NFL season. This is a stark contrast from last year when Jordan Love was handed the keys to the offense following the trade of Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets. Additionally, the team’s first and second year wide receivers overcame early inconsistencies to become one of the most exciting groups in the NFL.
Do not misunderstand: there are still a few positional battles taking place, such as at right guard and left tackle. However, the offense promises to be much improved and more consistent in 2024.
The defense, too, does not have many questions regarding starters and depth. Sure, there is a position battle going on in regards to who will start opposite Jaire Alexander at cornerback, but Green Bay is confident in the young talent that they have at that position as well. Javon Bullard and Xavier McKinney project to be the team’s starting safeties after the Packers experienced years of subpar play at the position.
Indeed, it is not difficult to predict who might be starters this season on either side of the ball. On special teams, though, it is a different story at a highly critical position.
Green Bay Packers Kicker Anders Carlson Struggled in 2023
One of the most controversial and unpopular moves of the 2023 offseason was the decision to allow the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, Mason Crosby, to depart in free agency. As if that was not disappointing enough for fans, Green Bay decided to replace him with Auburn’s Anders Carlson, who made just 71.8% of his field goal attempts while in college.
Early on, it was apparent that Carlson was going to struggle as a rookie. Reports of missed kicks in training camp did little to build confidence in him among the fanbase.
Not that Carlson’s rookie season did anything to help that. He did have an 81.8% field goal percentage (a higher percentage than Crosby’s career of 81.3%), but he also missed six extra point attempts in the regular season. Truth be told, if Carlson was more automatic on extra points, there probably would not be much conversation around him. After all, Crosby had a field goal percentage lower than 81.8% in eight of his 16 seasons in Green Bay, and 81.8% exactly in another one.
To miss six extra points in a season, though, is inexcusable. It simply isn’t good enough. For this reason, the Packers have added two kickers, including former Minnesota Vikings kicker Greg Joseph, to their 90-man roster to create competition at the position.
Green Bay Packers Insider Has Dire Take on Anders Carlson’s Future with the Team
In a weekly mailbag article, Packers insider Matt Schneidman of The Athletic brings up Carlson and the Packers’ kicking situation twice. The first was a direct question about whether or not, internally, the Packers are concerned about the position going into the season.
Schneidman responded:
“There’s plenty of time until the season starts, so I’m not sure if they’re deeply concerned yet. But I’d be silly to think there isn’t at least some trepidation considering how the last three months of last season went with Carlson.”
Those last three months of the season that Schneidman refers to was the 10-game stretch that saw Green Bay go 7-3. Carlson missed a kick in eight of those games. He also missed on in each of the Packers’ playoff games.
Later, Schneidman responds to a question about what position might be the biggest area of need for the Packers. He wrote:
“I’ll go off the beaten path and say kicker. I’m not sold that the Packers’ Week 1 kicker is currently on the roster. You could say outside cornerback or right guard, but I’d imagine the Packers are satisfied enough with their number of options at both spots that they think competition will produce a Week 1 starter. If I was in charge — there’s a reason I’m not — I wouldn’t be as confident about the competition at kicker doing the same.”
Special teams coordinator Rich Bissacia did recently say that the team’s starting kicker may not be on the roster yet. It all depends on how the competition plays out.
Carlson was given a long leash last season. It does not sound like he has that luxury this season.
