Getty Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.
The Green Bay Packers mounted a late-season run that carried them to the precipice of the NFC Championship Game, but a missed kick and a late pick slammed the door to a Super Bowl in their faces.
Still, this offseason brings with it considerable hope for the franchise and its young offense, led by quarterback Jordan Love, to make another deep playoff run. But the man who caught much of the blame for the Packers’ postseason failure in January may not be a part of it.
David Kenyon of Bleacher Report on Sunday, May 19, dubbed kicker Anders Carlson the “best player” on Green Bay’s roster who could still find himself on the chopping block ahead of the regular season, which begins in early September.
“Anders Carlson struggled down the stretch in 2023, missing a kick during nine of Green Bay’s last 12 games,” Kenyon wrote. “Most concerning, he misfired on six extra points in that stretch. This offseason, the Packers brought in Greg Joseph and Jack Podlesny to compete with Carlson.”
Anders Carlson Missed Biggest Kick of Rookie Season After Packers Invested Draft Pick, $4 Million to Acquire Him
GettyKicker Anders Carlson of the Green Bay Packers.
The younger brother of Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson, Anders Carlson drew interest from Green Bay in part because of his pedigree. The Packers made the relative rare call to spend a draft pick on a specialist, selecting the kicker in the sixth round (No. 207 overall) out of Auburn in 2023.
Beyond the draft pick, Green Bay also signed Carlson to a four-year rookie contract worth nearly $4 million in total. Despite the investment, however, Carlson finds himself fighting for his job after just one professional season due to the struggles noted above.
He finished the 2023 campaign 27-of-33 on field goal attempts, missing two from 50-plus yards and connecting on just 4-of-8 tries from between 40-49 yards, per Pro Football Reference. Carlson was also just 34-of-39 on extra-points.
Even more important than his regular-season struggles, though, was the kick Carlson missed during the NFC Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers — a team that has tormented Green Bay in the postseason across the last several years, stretching well back into the Aaron Rodgers era.
Carlson missed a 41-yard try with a little over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter that, if good, would have extended Green Bay’s lead to a full seven points. Instead he missed, and San Francisco scored a TD of its own to take the lead. Love threw an interception on the Packers’ final offensive drive of the game, which sealed the outcome.
Matt LaFleur Angered by Report of Lack of Faith in Packers Kicker Anders Carlson
GettyKicker Anders Carlson of the Green Bay Packers.
Some controversy followed Carlson’s errant boot when FOX Sports’ Tom Rinaldi offered a sideline report referencing a comment about the kicker uttered by Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur during a standard production meeting leading up to the playoff contest.
“When we talked to the head coach Matt LaFleur about this, he basically said, ‘When he goes out there, I just pray,’” Rinaldi told the booth announcers.
In the aftermath of the loss, when reporters asked LaFleur about the comments Rinaldi referenced, the coach was unhappy with the portrayal.
“That was extremely disappointing that that’s how that message got portrayed,” LaFleur said. “I’ve been a part of production meetings ever since I became a coordinator, and I’ve never had an experience like that.”
However well Rinaldi did or didn’t represent LaFleur’s pre-game sentiment about Carlson — who many fans and media members scapegoated for the Packers losing a game they easily could have, and perhaps should have, won — the Green Bay coaching staff decided to bring in two kickers to create a three-way offseason battle for the placekicking gig in 2024.
Joseph has five years of NFL experience, including three seasons with the Vikings as well as stops with the Tennessee Titans (2019) and the Cleveland Browns (2018). For his career, Joseph has made 100-of-121 field goal attempts and 146-of-162 extra point attempts.
Meanwhile, Podlesny was first-team All-SEC at Georgia in 2022 and captured the conference’s Special Teams Player of the Year Award after making 26-of-31 field goal attempts and hitting 73-of-74 extra point tries.