Green Bay Packers Cut ’em or Keep ’em & Prediction: Mason Crosby
By Paul Bretl
Why the Green Bay Packers would cut Mason Crosby
Cap space saved: $2.39 million
No, that’s not a huge amount by any means, but for the cap-strapped Green Bay Packers, every penny matters this offseason.
While, hopefully, the improved blocking would help Mason Crosby return to his old form, as previously mentioned, a potential concern, especially with Crosby being 37-years-old, is that he made just 58.3 percent of his attempts this past season from 40-plus yards. A small sample size, sure, but from 2017 to 2020 on kicks from that range, Crosby hit 79.1 percent of those attempts.
We also have to discuss kickoffs, where the Green Bay Packers coverage unit struggled. According to PFF ($$), the Packers allowed 25.9 yards per return, which was the second-most in football.
Now, of course, that doesn’t fall squarely on Crosby’s shoulders, but he also didn’t do himself any favors by giving the opponent the opportunity to return the ball. Opposing teams returned 54.6 percent of Crosby’s kick return attempts, and that was the fourth most in football. He also had just 43 touchbacks, which was the seventh-fewest among all kickers.
It would seem that Crosby doesn’t have the same kicking strength that he once did, and for a coverage unit that struggled as much as the Packers did, not being able to get the ball to the end zone with regularity did play a role.
It’s also worth noting that the Green Bay Packers have had JJ Molson on the practice squad for about a season and a half now–while he is lacking experience, the Packers have kept him around for a reason.