Packer Central

Source: Packers Release Anders Carlson

The Green Bay Packers stuck with Anders Carlson during a rocky rookie season. However, the team is moving on after an inconsistent training camp.

Bill Huber

Former Green Bay Packers kicker Anders Carlson
Former Green Bay Packers kicker Anders Carlson / Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – In the first stunning move of the Green Bay Packers’ roster cuts on Tuesday, the team released kicker Anders Carlson.

That they released him wasn’t particularly surprising given his inconsistent training camp. However, the team stuck with him through thick and thin throughout a tumultuous rookie season last year. With championship expectations entering this season, the Packers are hoping to move forward with a more consistent kicker.

Will that be veteran kicker Greg Joseph, who battled Carlson throughout training camp? As of early Tuesday, Joseph was still on the roster.

Carlson appeared to have separated himself from Joseph after a strong finish to training camp, but he missed a 32-yard field goal during the fourth quarter against Baltimore.

Carlson’s head was down as his kicking foot hit the ball. He continued to stare at the ground as the ball drifted wide right.

No kicker missed more kicks last year than Carlson, who ranked 23rd in field-goal percentage as a rookie sixth-round draft pick. His success rate was no better during the relatively stress-free days of training camp.

“If you have a bad day, you’re going to be upset,” Carlson said at one point this summer. “We’re all human, whether you’re a kicker or whatever you are. But for me, my mental state starts with my faith. I can go home and know who I am.

“I don’t think I’ve wavered too much good or bad. I’m not a robot, but when I wake up that next day, it really gets me back centered—whether it’s an off day to watch film, or to have a great day (at practice). It really centers me back to what I need to do. Yeah, I think I’m always waking up motivated no matter how yesterday went.”

The margin for error in the NFL is too small for a contending team to wait too long for a talented kicker to find consistency.

Last season, Carlson missed a field goal in a two-point loss at the Denver Broncos. He missed an extra point at the Pittsburgh Steelers, which forced the Packers to go for a touchdown in a four-point loss. He missed a field goal in a two-point loss to the New York Giants.

And, finally, even after the team was questioned why it would proceed with its struggling kicker, he missed a field goal in a three-point loss against the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs.

Carlson entered training camp confident he’d found solutions. He started camp by making his first 11 attempts. However, the lasting impression was Carlson missing a chip-shot field goal with perfect weather conditions in a blowout preseason game on Saturday.

“We’ve got a really good sample size,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the Baltimore game, “and then we’ll see what happens just around the league. Certainly, there were some really good moments. Both those guys went in there, hit a 54-yarder and a 55-yarder, and then there’s a poor moment there where we missed a chip shot. You know, again, lot of good. Some we know we can be better at, and we’ll wait and see.”

Carlson made 81.8 percent of his field goals and 87.2 percent of his extra points in 2023. Kicking indoors for his home games as a member of the Vikings, Joseph made 80.0 percent of his field goals and 94.7 percent of his extra points in 2023 and 82.2 percent of his field goals and 90.1 percent of his extra points in three seasons.

The team also has released receiver Samori Toure and offensive tackle Caleb Jones.

More Green Bay Packers News

Roster cuts tracker | 53-man Packers roster projection (Huber) | 53-Man Packers roster projection (Westendorf) | Kristian Welch makes push to stay with home-state team | Winners and losers | Quarterbacks fail to make final statement | Receivers make final statement | Who’s the kicker? | Where’s Love in QB Tiers? |  Roster Lock-O-Meter | Seven surprises | All-Oneida Team | Six best players of training camp 

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.