The 90 to 1 Green Bay Packers roster countdown: No. 24 – Mason Crosby
The Green Bay Packers, and their 90 players on the roster, are in the midst of their first training camp under coach Matt LaFleur. In an annual tradition from my 11 years at Packer Report, I rank the players in order of importance from No. 90 to No. 1. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. Our rankings take into account talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than the ranking, we hope you learn something about each player. (Note: The start of this series can be found with my former employer.)
No. 24: K Mason Crosby ($4,850,000 cap)
Crosby has a battle on his hands. Or, right foot.
For the first time since 2013, when he went against Giorgio Tavecchio, Crosby will have to win his job. The challenger is Sam Ficken, an undrafted free agent in 2015 who is 3-of-6 on field goals for his career. That battle was delayed with Crosby missing the start of training camp with a calf injury.
“It’s a day-to-day thing,” he said. “I’ve never been on any kind of injury deal before. It’s new to me, but taking the time to make sure that mind, body, everything is right. At the end of the day, long term, I’ll be thankful for a little less time at camp and the strain and be ready to go here, hopefully, pretty soon. I don’t think we have a set timeframe but I feel good. I’m moving around and kicking in rehab. I’m just being cautious. As long as I’m able to get my mental reps and still move around and I’m not laying in a bed and in solitary, I’m able to work on things that I need to work on and make sure my mind is sharp and ready to go.”
Crosby is coming off a terrible season. With a $5.25 million salary-cap charge, the most expensive kicker in the NFL was one of its worst. He made 30-of-37 field-goal attempts, an 81.1 percent success rate that was torpedoed by his four-miss game at Detroit. He went 1-for-3 on must-make field goals, with a 52-yard miss that would have beaten the Vikings in Week 2, a 27-yarder to beat San Francisco and a 49-yard miss against Arizona that clinched Mike McCarthy’s firing.
“People underestimate how difficult it is to kick in Lambeau Field in the weather he has to kick it in,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “Mason’s done a good job of that over the years. He’s obviously a veteran, he’s been in a lot of situations. I look for Mason to have a bounce-back year.”
Gutekunst is right about kicking in Lambeau Field, but not even that works in Crosby’s favor. Ovre the past five seasons, Crosby has made 83.0 percent of his field goals at home. Visiting kickers, on the other hand, have made 86.2 percent.
Crosby survived and thrived after he made 21-of-33 field-goal attempts (63.6 percent) in 2012. However, after making 89.2 percent in 2013, 81.9 percent in 2014, 85.7 percent in 2015 and 86.7 percent in 2016, Crosby has had two subpar seasons. Of the 29 kickers with a total of 30 field-goal attempts over the past two seasons, Crosby is 25th with 80.4 percent accuracy. For his career, Crosby has connected on 80.4 percent of his field goals. Of 26 active kickers with at least 100 career field-goal attempts, Crosby ranks 25th in career marksmanship.
The Packers need better. After back-to-back losing seasons, this is a team that probably can’t survive Crosby missing some big kicks.
"My mind-set’s the same," Crosby said upon his return to practice after Family Night. "Every time I come into camp, it’s a process. I’m preparing for a season and obviously you go out there and perform in practice and do my job. That’s the expectation every time I take the field. My mindset doesn’t change regardless of the situation. I’m going to just continue to work hard and prepare for a season."
