Paul Bretl | 8/28/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — How will things work out for the Packers at the kicker position this season? Well, that remains to be seen. But for a team where the opportunity to win is right now, GM Brian Gutekunst is leaving no stone unturned.
Throughout the offseason and up until today, that included bringing in Jack Podlesny back in January and then Greg Joseph during free agency. When Podlesny struggled, he was released and James Turner took his place.
After Turner, Alex Hale was brought in to be the third kicker. Then during roster cutdowns, Anders Carlson–a 2023 draft pick–was released, and once the team was awarded Brayden Narveson off waivers the following day, so was Joseph.
“When we went into this year, we rotated some kickers through here,” said Gutekunst on Wednesday. “I think we were the only team to have three for most of the training camp. We were looking a lot. We were monitoring the league.”
Narveson went undrafted this past April out of NC State. In the preseason, he was 6-for-7 on field goal attempts, which included making a 59-yarder and a game-winner, along with going 2-for-2 on extra points.
An experienced player coming out of college having kicked across five seasons, Narveson would miss only one of his 197 extra point attempts. On field goals, he made 71 of his 91 kicks (78%), including 26-of-32 from 40-49 yards and going 4-of-12 from 50-plus yards.
“Brayden was a kid that we liked coming out and then he had an excellent preseason there in Tennessee,” Gutekunst said. “As it unfolded and he was let go, we thought it was an opportunity to get a really good young kicker and give them a shot at it.”
By comparison, the Packers believe Narveson gives them a better chance than Joseph and Carlson, given what they saw from him, or they wouldn’t have put in the waiver claim. However, that doesn’t guarantee that this is the move at kicker that will end all moves for the Packers. The Packers are still living in a world of uncertainty at this position.
“I don’t know if you ever know for sure,” said Gutekunst about bringing in a new kicker. “Certainly we scout that and certainly he had a great preseason where he hit a 59-yarder and then a game-winner at the end to handle that kind of pressure. You’re constantly monitoring that stuff but until you get him in Lambeau Field and everything that that brings, not sure you ever know.”
Roughly this time a year ago, when Carlson was just embarking on his rookie season, we heard Gutekunst mention on a few occasions the importance of being patient with young kickers, fully knowing that there will be ups and downs, and time to develop is a necessity.
That thought process can work when entering a season with so many unknowns and relatively low expectations. On the flip side, for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, the opportunity to provide a young kicker with time to figure things out is not a luxury the Packers have.
By Gutekunst’s own admission, he probably isn’t as patient with specialists as he needs to be to truly give that player a long enough runway to figure things out while in Green Bay. But the situation a team finds itself in can do some of the dictating when it comes to how to handle this often steep learning curve.
I’m probably not as patient with specialists as I should be, I’m really not,” said Gutekunst. “So I probably need to be a little bit more patient. We had JK Scott in here who’s turned into a very good punter. But at the same time, I’m very confident in this team and what we can accomplish so I want to make sure we give this team every opportunity to win. So there’s going to be a standard that we’re going to try to reach.”
As we all know, and as the Packers have experienced in the playoffs, the margin for error in the NFL when it comes to wins and losses is extremely thin. As Matt LaFleur put it on Wednesday, “I’m well aware of this.”
Since the year 2000, 6,176 games have been played in the NFL and 36 percent of those contests have been decided by three points or fewer. The most common margin of victory in that span is three points. Or in short, the Packers have to get the kicker position right.
Obviously the hope is that Narveson can provide the needed stability and reliable presence that the Packers have been searching for since Mason Crosby left. However, if he’s not, then there’s likely to be a new kicker for the Packers.
“I mean, guys have got to produce,” Gutekunst said. “If they don’t produce, it’s going to be a short leash. And so for me it’s really no different than it has been. We’re going to always, we’re working all year to see if there’s opportunities to make us better and if there is, and we can, we’re going ot try to do that.
“We’re really excited to get Brayden in here and see what he can do. And he’s certainly got a lot of talent and we’re excited about that, but at the end of the day, like all these guys who made this team, they’ve got to produce.”
LaFleur mentioned that he’s been on teams before where they’ve cycled through kickers during the season, and as one can imagine, it’s not a fun spot to be in. This situation, however, brining in Narveson a little over a week before the first game is uncharted territory.
The first time Narveson kicks for the Packers will be in a regular season game when it matters. The team will have a few practices to get a feel for him, but the general uncertainty could impact how LaFleur calls the game if faced with a fourth-down in opponent territory.
“Absolutely,” said LaFleur about the uncertainty at kicker impacting play-calling. “100 percent. Yeah. I think you’ve got to take into account all the circumstances. No different though like when you go out and there’s inclement weather. Sometimes that affects some of the decision making you make. We’ll see. “