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 extra points. In 2022, Joseph hit five game-winners for the Vikings, which is an NFL single-season record. That total included hitting a franchise-record 61-yarder to beat the Giants in December 2022.
Joseph also hit 94.7% of his extra points last season, which put him well above Carlson (87.2%), who ranked dead last in the league for any kicker who attempted more than 25 extra points.
That being said, one thing that could work in Carlson's favor is that Joseph has struggled during his career at Lambeau Field. After spending three years kicking predominantly indoors, Joseph will be trying to make the move to Lambeau, where he has just a 42.9% hit rate on field goals (3 of 7).
It will be an interesting competition to say the least. With Joseph now in Green Bay, this could spell the end for Carlson, who was taken in the sixth-round by the Packers in the 2023 NFL Draft. Carlson replaced long-time Packers kicker Mason Crosby in 2023, and he could soon be replaced himself if Joseph beats him out for the job.