Perhaps the most head-scratching selection made by the Green Bay Packers in this year’s draft was taking kicker Anders Carlson from Auburn in the sixth round.
Now, the reason is not because Carlson is a kicker. In fact, I would have been more surprised had Green Bay not drafted a kicker at all, given the current state of that position. The Packers entered the draft with only Parker White on the roster, and he has no NFL experience.
The surprising part of all this was that in comparison to several of his college counterparts, especially those who were drafted as well, Carlson’s numbers as a kicker don’t exactly leap off the page.
Carlson made 71% of his 107 career field goal attempts, according to PFF. He was solid from inside 40 yards, but beyond is where he became very inconsistent. He made 25 of his 39 attempts from the 40 to 49-yard range, and he was just 4 of 16 from over 50. Even on kickoffs, where opponents returned 42% of Carlson’s attempts wasn’t overly impressive, ranking 99th among all kickers in 2022.
In his pre-draft report on Carlson, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com wrote this:
“Carlson has made kicks in big moments and appeared to be tracking in a good direction back in 2020. However, he has struggled to establish consistency on mid-range kicks and has been poor on kicks from 50 yards and beyond. He’s had too many kicks blocked during his career and doesn’t sport a booming leg on kickoffs.”
So what made the Green Bay Packers comfortable with making this pick? Well, from the sounds of it, there were two primary reasons: familiarity and confidence in Rich Bisaccia.
“He (Carlson) was a kid that Rich (Bisaccia) has extensive experience with,” said Brian Gutekunst after the draft. “He had his brother (Daniel Carlson) and had known him for quite a while. He struggled with some injuries over the past couple of years after a very promising start. So we felt good about where he was headed, and again, the relationship Rich had with him was a positive factor. The familiarity there helped.”
Daniel Carlson, brother of Anders, is still a member of the Raiders. He spent several years there with Bisaccia from 2018, after he was signed mid-season following his release from Minnesota, through 2021, when Bisaccia left to join Green Bay. For his career, Carlson has made 89% of his 166 career field goal attempts, including 34-of-45 from 40 to 49 yards and 24-of-29 from 50-plus.
The injuries to Carlson that Gutekunst referenced was an ACL tear that occurred in November of 2021 and resulted in him wearing a leg brace during the 2022 season. Carlson’s 2022 season was then cut short after he suffered a shoulder injury while making a tackle on the kickoff team.
Gutekunst said Bisaccia met with Carlson at Auburn before the draft.
“With kickers, Rich has a long track record and a very successful one, and I felt really good about how he felt about him,” added Gutekunst.
For 16 years, the Packers largely have not had to worry about the kicker position with the presence of Mason Crosby on the roster. Although Gutekunst wasn’t willing to completely close the door on a return, Green Bay’s tight salary cap situation along with the current state of the team are potentially two reasons why they could be looking elsewhere.
With the Packers in the midst of transitioning to quarterback Jordan Love, of course, they still want to win games. However, while Green Bay can still very much be competitive, they also likely aren’t going to be a Super Bowl contender either, especially with so much youth on offense.
This means that they should use this upcoming season as an opportunity to search for their kicker of the future — which is no easy task — rather than potentially spending $4 million to $5 million in cap space they don’t have, or using void years to push more cap charges to future years, for just one more season with Crosby.
Ideally, the Packers will have a better grasp at kicker at this point next offseason, whether that be Carlson, White, or whomever, when they are potentially in a better position to win as well. If Crosby were to return in 2023, there’s no guarantee that he would be the kicker in 2024, with retirement likely nearing, and that scenario would put the Packers right back into the position they currently find themselves in. Crosby also has become more inconsistent from over 50 yards as he ages and has had one of the highest kickoff return attempt rates in football.
“It’s going to have to be a process that we are going to have to work through and see where it goes,” said Matt LaFleur of the current outlook at kicker. But I think we’ve got two guys we are pretty confident in. Obviously drafted Anders (Carlson), and Rich has some history with him and his brother, working with him in Las Vegas. So we thought it was a really good fit for us.”
