Cory's Corner: Anders Carlson Is Raising Eyebrows
The Packers are replacing an all-timer at more than just quarterback.
It’s not every offseason where an NFL team tries to replace its all-time scoring leader.
The Packers did that with 38-year-old fan favorite Mason Crosby. The Packers kicker, who was taken in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft, is No. 1 on the Packers all-time scoring list with 1,918 points — 864 points ahead of second place kicker Ryan Longwell.
The Packers decided it was time to move on and just like 16 years ago, drafted a kicker in the sixth round hoping to strike it rich. So now legions of people are pinning their hopes to the right leg of Anders Carlson.
“He’s got a lot of leg, and I don’t know if you get an opportunity to see that, but he’s got a big-time leg,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur this week. “I think it’s just harnessing that power and making sure it’s very consistent, but I think he’s shown improvement throughout the course of the offseason.”
Carlson has shown plenty of promise early on in the offseason, but kicking in the offseason when conditions are nearly perfect and kicking at Soldier Field in driving rain and wind are completely different.
Last year at Auburn, Carlson was 12-for-17 (71 percent) on field goals including 4-for-8 on kicks from 40-plus yards. Carlson is second on the Tigers’ all-time scoring list behind Daniel Carlson, who happens to be the all-time leading scorer in the SEC.
Carlson has certainly displayed his pedigree and he has shown off his leg numerous times. The only thing we need to see is poise. How will he respond to missed kicks? How will he respond to blocked kicks? Will he be a different kicker outdoors vs. indoors?
I’ll be honest, I wanted the Packers to keep Crosby. Then again, it’s better to get rid of players too early than too late. I still think Crosby can be an NFL kicker, the only question is, at what price and for how long? Crosby’s cap hit of $4.7 million in 2022 was No. 6 among kickers, ahead of Arizona’s Matt Prater and Las Vegas’ Daniel Carlson.
The Packers’ next chapter at kicker begins with Carlson and judging from the foreword, you have to like where this story is going.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE.
__________________________
Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn
__________________________
Comments (28)
Johnblood27
June 17, 2023 at 06:20 am
Carlson is yet another guy who Gutey drafted coming off a less than spectacular year with a decent history behind that. Carlson had some injury issues, but with Richie B in-da-house, I am confident that the GBP will be alright at kicker this season.
The history between RB and AC is in the favor of them succeeding together as well, Bisaccia knew exactly who and what he was getting.
The fall and winter weather will be a challenge, but preparation is the mother of success, RB will keep his head in the changes.
GPG
marpag1
June 17, 2023 at 08:27 am
I have nothing against "Richie B," but I think a lot of Packer fans are overrating him a bit. Yes, he's been around for ages as a special teams coordinator... since 2002, and he's coached ST every year since then. Obviously, that counts for something.
According to Rick Gosselin's well-respected ST rankings, Bisaccia ST units have ranked 14.3 out of 32 during his career. That's... pretty average. And if you take his five years prior to coming to Green Bay, his units averaged 15th out of 32.
Sure, the Packers improved when he came, and I admit that he is better than many of the previous coordinators. But the Packers were 32nd in the league when he came in. They obviously couldn't get any worse. And even though Packer fans are delighted with the improvement, GB was still only 22nd out of 32 last year. (They had FOUR blocked kicks, for goodness sakes!!)
I think the bigger reason for the improvement in ST is that Gutekunst seemed to make a concerted effort to get special teamers on the roster. Before last year, Gutey's teams ranked an appalling 29.8 out of 32 in ST rankings. A good bit of that may have been due to personnel. It seems to me that Gutey switched up his roster building strategy a little bit.
I think it's an open question... how important are ST's when assembling a roster? I think you'll find some debate about that. Last year the two WORST special teams units were... the Eagles at 31, and the Chiefs dead last.
greengold
June 17, 2023 at 08:54 am
Those are all solid points, marpag1. No doubt. Leatherhead has argued for years about the minimal impact STs can play overall in winning football games.
Our problem as Packers fans is we've known the worst case scenarios all too well. And, that was with a great Kicker in Mason Crosby. Gutekust was indeed slow on the uptake in bringing in QUALITY ST players via the draft & FA. That has changed in the last 2 years, thanks to Bisaccia.
I think there is definitely a middle ground to the argument on the importance of playing good, sound STs.
All I care about is winning football games, and I don't want the Packers LOSING football games because of STs. That last bit we know all too well.
LaFleur hired Bisaccia to change our STs from a weakness into a strength. Good.
marpag1
June 17, 2023 at 09:27 am
I agree there is a middle ground, and it's not surprising Gutey never seemed to emphasize ST that much. After all, he learned from Ted, and Ted's ST were often less than inspiring as well. In the year the Packers won the super bowl, their ST were 29th. That said, Ted racked up a record of 125-82-1, and that qualifies as a flat out stud.
With the NFL kick off rules changing this year, I think the value of special teams is only going to become less. Kicking off and kickoff coverage are going to become irrelevant. Everyone will just fair catch or down it in the end zone, and we aren't going to see any returns. There's just no incentive to run it out.
Like it or not, the NFL kickoff will probably go the way of the NBA jump ball. After scoring, you just give the ball to the opponent.
croatpackfan
June 17, 2023 at 09:02 am
Well, using Amari out of his ability as kick and punt returner at the begining of the season lead to Packers ST was still 32nd in ST ranking. When you have very bad returner there is nothing much what coverage unit can do. When Amari was cut and Nixon take over the duty, at about half of the season, Packers ST raised to 15th in ST ranking. That is telling me that Packers ST rised up to at least top 10 ST unit if not top 5. You can not make good food from bad raw material. You can better taste of that meal slightly, but nothing else.
And, how unit (or whole team) will play it is not just the scheme, it is also willingness and doing correctly your assignements. There is reports how many players likes working with and to Rich Bisaccia and how much respect and trust they have at him. You can not say that about many coaches. I can compare him with Tom Clements in that part. Every QB who was working with Tom Clements have say only love and excellency on him and his work with them. If you listen carefully, you can hear the same about Rich Bisaccia.
GregC
June 17, 2023 at 12:02 pm
Very good comment marpag1, I've had the same thought about Bisacchia, that he's better than previous ST coaches but probably not as super duper as many fans think he is. He has a take-charge demeanor that fans (including me, for the most part) like to see in their coaches, and I sometimes wonder if that has led to him being somewhat overrated.
I wonder about the importance of special teams as well. Obviously they are not as important as offense and defense. If you were to put a percentage on the importance of special teams as part of the whole, what would it be? I don't think it's as high as 20%. I suspect it's more like 10% to 15%. On the other hand, there could be some fringe benefits to having good special teams, as it could contribute to a better mentality for the whole team. I like that the Packers have switched things up and put a greater emphasis on special teams. It's refreshing and has maybe brought some new energy to the team. But yes, we should keep it in perspective and remember that offense and defense put together are probably something like 85% to 90% responsible for the team's overall success.
PhantomII
June 17, 2023 at 09:26 pm
OK Greg, go watch the 2021 NFCC game @ home again and tell us all how unimportant ST are. It stopped us from a SB birth and our team was better than the RAMS that year....SO it kept us from a trophy along with our trust..ish QB1 at the time. Nixon was an ALL PRO returner with 1000+ yards in half a season. That's 10 TD's of field position and helped our anemic offense move on many excellent field positions set up by ST. The reason why teams did kick short is because we were no threat to return anything and were likely to cough up the ball on the return. The NFL is trying to negate full speed impact on kickoffs and punts...
GregC
June 17, 2023 at 10:04 pm
It was truly a disastrous special teams performance, no doubt about it. But on the other hand, there were multiple plays on offense and defense that, had they gone differently, would have changed the outcome as well. And the kind of special teams ineptitude that was on display in that game was exceptional. Last year the special teams improved significantly from the previous year, and the Packers went from 13-4 to 8-9.
I'm not saying special teams are unimportant. Differences in talent between NFL teams are not that great, and the little things can be the difference between winning and losing. That's why I think it's good to see the Packers improving their special teams talent and hiring a special teams coach with a decent track record for a change. I just think that compared to what happens on offense and defense, special teams are a relatively small piece of the pie.
PhantomII
June 17, 2023 at 10:42 pm
Well GregC, we can only hope 1-ST implosion....a trust-less QB1.... A soft defense like we used against Detroit is in the past. I'm hoping for solid ST, Defense and efficient Offense without trust issues to turn the page. Let's hope finally we can put all 3 of these phases in position to perform at the same time....I'm also hoping our Assistant Coach is holding our DC accountable and we are not playing soft...ever...GPG.
PhantomII
June 18, 2023 at 04:32 pm
I would say both KC and Eagles are far better coached on Offense and Defense...So there is that HUGE factor as well as 2 of the mobile QB's who do everything to move the chains. That's a huge difference right there from what we had. ST is a lot better than before RB arrived and Gute has taken players who fit the ST traits as required. I have seen our punter take more than one step after catching the ball...highlighted in the 21' NFCC game punt block that lost that game....Which is taught as a basic... NO-NO... IN HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!. Yea, you just can't make up the ways GB has lost major games in similar manner. RB is 1000% better ST coach than what we had and he has Gutes ear. That's a good thing.
marpag1
June 19, 2023 at 11:37 am
LOL. So what exactly are you saying that I did not clearly say already? That you agree with me completely? Oh. Cool!
stockholder
June 17, 2023 at 07:20 am
I got a kick out of this article.
It’s right between the uprights.
This change was just a season away.
I can’t fault Gutey at all for taking Carlson.
A booming leg in GB, changes the field position.
If Carlson is money. How sweet it will be.
mrtundra
June 17, 2023 at 07:21 am
As long as AC can kick it out of the end zone on kick offs, I will have little problem with him. He will make his fair share of FGs, as was shown in OTAs. Putting the ball through the end zone, on kick offs, is huge to keep the returners at bay. That is an area Mason had trouble with. The new rules regarding kick offs, may come into play as well. I hope they work in AC's favor.
GregC
June 17, 2023 at 11:00 am
I have to disagree with you on this one. I think that, in general, field goal accuracy is way more important than kickoff distance. Obviously you do risk a runback with a kick that's short of the end zone, but most of the time, the returner doesn't get very far anyway.
I don't think it's at all a given that Carlson will make his fair share of field goals. It's a mental game, and some kickers get into a bad frame of mind for whatever reason. It even happened to Crosby during a couple of seasons. A field goal attempt is a play that is directly responsible for putting points on the scoreboard, sometimes with a win or tie needed at the end of a game.
greengold
June 17, 2023 at 08:10 am
Huge leg + accuracy = Wins.
The physics in play here with our new Kicker, Andres Carlson, at 6-5 219, are immense. All we need in Andres is to be a regular contributor in optimizing field position on KOs and scoring points. That can win a lot of games for the Packers.
Crosby’s phenomenal career was definitely coming to an end, and hopefully we will see that Carlson was smart draft pick at #207 of Round 6 in the 2023 draft. Seems that if we were going to be adding a new Kicker this year, we could have done a lot worse than with Rich Bisaccia's top choice.
His draft profile is checkered in mid-range & deep kicks, but I trust Bisaccia on this one. He knows Andres well, and must see technique adjustments that he can develop as his coach to add power, accuracy & consistency.
In 2020 at Auburn, Andres made 24 of 25 Extra Points and 20 of 22 FGs for 90.9% accuracy, scoring 84 points, prior to his knee injury.
SicSemperTyrannis
June 17, 2023 at 01:28 pm
I see great picks at K & backup QB, two very low round picks. Seeing AC get a FG that could have gone for 65 yards is a great sign! That was his biggest weakness I could find, long FGs. I'd hope that a professional schedule could improve that
Spock
June 17, 2023 at 08:54 am
Yes, but can he tackle? Just kidding, Mason saved a lot of returns with tackles and his famous ball strip so the Packers got the ball back. The wiley veteran hasn't retired so who knows what may happen down the road. Best of luck to AC.
SicSemperTyrannis
June 17, 2023 at 01:30 pm
We suddenly have big guys at K, P, and LS. I think our FO has been taking your joke seriously.
Leatherhead
June 17, 2023 at 09:49 am
Longwell was a mighty good kicker, but I thought early on that Crosby might be the best kicker the Packers ever had. I hope the new guy can do the job.
Bitternotsour
June 17, 2023 at 10:13 am
arguably, if you were getting rid of Crosby a year too early, it would have been 4 years ago. He was a big contributor to special teams problems. His hangtime on kickoffs was awful, his leg strength has been suspect for years. that said, he has been a stand up guy for his entire career, was amazingly accurate in bad weather and deserves big praise for his points records. still, we suffered through a lot of blocked kicks, complaints about holders, snappers, etc. in the course of that career.
nonetheless, he's 38. it was time.
marpag1
June 17, 2023 at 10:58 am
I suspect the Packers rightly understood that the NFL kickoff was quickly becoming a non-factor, so they didn't mind Crosby's weak leg. Average starting position after a kickoff never varies by more than a handful of yards, anyway. So they prioritized reliability in kicking field goals and PATs in bad weather. If that was their thinking, I would have to agree with it.
The intriguing question for next year is this: if anything and everything inside the 25 yard line can be caught for a fair catch with the ball being placed not where it is caught but at the 25 yard line, are we going to see teams trying to use squib kicks all the time?
Bitternotsour
June 17, 2023 at 10:13 am
duplicate
GregC
June 17, 2023 at 11:03 am
I saw a brief video of Carlson kicking a field goal (just one kick), and it looked like he had a compact motion, which was good to see. I was a little worried that at 6'5", he might have a big loopy kicking motion that could result in a slight delay or a low trajectory. Based on what little I saw, that does not appear to be the case, although I am by no means an expert on this.
Slaal
June 17, 2023 at 01:22 pm
I think getting a new kicker now, while Rich Bisaccia is still with the team was an important move.
If the Packers exceed expectations this year, Rich will get some head coaching interviews. Getting our new (hopefully long term) kicker introduced to the NFL by Rich, learning how to train and pay attention to details, will set him up for a great career.
I have less faith in whoever the next st coordinator will be, so while I think Mason could have done well for another year, I think the timing for the switch was great.
Dagger
June 17, 2023 at 10:20 pm
Exciting year approaching with alot of new changes. Looking forward to a new starting QB and also looking forward to kicking the year of with Anders. Be patient GB fans as 2023 is building onto to 2024. Be realistic GB fans as our WR's and TE's as well as QB are so very, very young. Time to recalibrate this year. Should be fun.
PatrickGB
June 18, 2023 at 08:38 am
Off topic, but that Irish punter we brought in looks pretty good too. Lots of hang time.
Starrbrite
June 18, 2023 at 06:10 pm
Many of you (LH in particular) are aware of my sentiments concerning ST’s.
I firmly believe —and always will, ST’s are a critical component to success. Too many examples to cite.
We all loved Mason, but I’m in agreement with Bittensour—Mason’s time was over.
Our ST’s are improved/improving…just in time for the NFL to determine kickoff returns are not that important—Nixon has to be upset.
Go Packers!!!
Slim11
June 18, 2023 at 07:04 pm
While I agree Crosby’s time in Green Bay has come and gone, I have one reservation about Carlson. He was drafted because of his brother and Bissacia knows him. This is similar to hiring a friend because “he knows someone.”
Indications from OTAs are favorable. But, there is a new LS and, possibly, a new holder if O’Donnel loses the punting job. Having all three positions potentially filled by rookies concerns me.