It did not take long for Green Bay Packers fans to realize that the franchise made a mistake in their attempt to replace kicker Mason Crosby with Anders Carlson in 2023. Crosby, the all-time leading scorer in Packers history, was beloved by fans and had a solid year in 2022, making 86.2% of his field goal tries and 94.9% of his extra point attempts.
The decision to move on from Crosby could have been understood better had the Packers chosen a kicker with a better pedigree and reputation than Carlson. In five years at Auburn, he made just 71.8% of his field goals (though he did make 98.3% of his extra points). This level of inconsistency made many wonder why Green Bay drafted him at all. A lot of draft experts had him going undrafted, which means the Packers still could have signed after the draft if he was the kicker they really wanted.
The Green Bay Packers Went from Anders Carlson to Brandon McManus
Tork Mason
In his lone season with the Packers, Carlson made 81.8% of his field goals (which is actually 0.6% better than Crosby’s career field goal percentage), but only 87.2% of his extra points. He led the NFL in missed kicks and played a not insignificant role in Green Bay’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Playoffs.
As a result of his struggles, the Packers decided to bring in Greg Joseph to compete with him in training camp. Neither kicker performed well, so both ended up being released. Instead, the Packers claimed Brayden Narveson off of waivers from the Tennessee Titans.
Unfortunately, Narveson did not prove to be any more reliable than Carlson was. In six games with Green Bay, he made just 70.6% of his kicks (and 100% of his extra points).
After the Packers’ first six games, they released Narveson and signed free agent kicker Brandon McManus. Since arriving in Green Bay, McManus has made 94.1% of his field goals and 100% of his extra points.
Former Green Bay Packers Kicker Anders Carlson Has Not Been Able to Keep an NFL Job
Since being cut by the Packers, Carlson has bounced around the NFL a bit. He lost a competition with Joseph for a job on the Detroit Lions practice squad, and initially lost the kicking competition for same role in San Francisco.
But when both the 49ers’ kickers went down with injury, Carlson was signed and appeared in two games for them. He made all five of his field goal attempts, but missed one of his four extra point tries.
Once Jake Moody got healthy in San Francisco, Carlson was released again. This time he was signed to the New York Jets practice squad. It did not take long for him to be signed to their active roster as Greg Zuerlein was placed on injured reserve and their other kicker was claimed by the Kansas City Chiefs.
In five games with the Jets, Carlson has made 80% of his field goals, but just 81.8% of his extra points. In New York’s latest loss to the Los Angeles Rams, he missed a short field goal and an extra point.
His poor performance led the Jets to sign Joseph, who had just been released by the Washington Commanders (after stops in Detroit and with the New York Giants).
Earlier today, the Jets announced that neither former Packers kicker will play for them on Sunday. Instead, they are activating Zuerlein off of injured reserve.
K Greg Zuerlein will return for Sunday’s game against the Bills. pic.twitter.com/v4MPTjgjJh
— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 27, 2024
They have not announced if Carlson and/or Joseph have been released yet, but it is clear that neither will fit in their long-term plans.
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