What it Means: Packers Cut K Dominik Eberle & Claim Gabe Brkic

As GM Brian Gutekunst often points out, roster building is a year-round task–with the Green Bay Packers’ latest move being that they moved on from one kicker in favor of another.

Green Bay began the offseason with three kickers on the roster–Dominik Eberle, Mason Crosby, and JJ Molson. But when meeting with reporters in early April, Bisaccia made it clear that the Packers would only enter training camp with two kickers on the 90-man roster. This eventually led to the team moving on from Molson, who had been a member of the practice squad for almost two full seasons.

After that move, it looked like it would be Eberle competing with Crosby this summer. The young kicker came into the Green Bay Packers offseason programs with three career field goal attempts, in which he made two of them, while also going five-for-five on extra point attempts–all of which came in one game last season with Houston.

However, the roster turnover at the kicker position will continue for the Green Bay Packers.

According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Packers would cut Eberle, who was signed earlier this offseason and has past experience with Rich Bisaccia, in favor of Gabe Brkic, who was claimed off waivers.

Brkic is an undrafted rookie from Oklahoma who, following the draft, signed with Minnesota before he was very recently released.

Brkic spent four seasons with the Sooners, making 57 of his 69 career field goal attempts and 159 out of 160 extra point attempts. From 40-plus yards, he would make 17 of his 25 attempts and 9 of 13 from over 50-yards, per PFF ($$).

This past season, Brkic was named one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award, which goes to the nation’s best place-kicker. For more on what Brkic brings to the Packers, here is what NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein had to say in his pre-draft report:

"“Brkic had decent power in 2020, but he was a more composed and effective striker of the football in 2021. Hitting five of his seven attempts from 50-plus yards, Brkic improved his draft stock, but he lacks premium accuracy on intermediate kicks. Brkic could be a Day 3 selection, but needs to sharpen his placement and touchback rate on kickoffs.”"

Over at Pro Football Network, Brkic was ranked as the third-best kicker in this year’s draft class. Meanwhile, SI had Brkic as the second-best kicker in the 2022 class.

Brkic certainly seems to be an upgrade over Eberle just based on their college careers alone, but can he truly push Crosby for the roster spot? That I’m still not sure on–even with the $3.4 million in cap savings that comes with moving on from him.

While 2021 was certainly a down year for Crosby, it’s not as if it was all his fault between the poor blocking and the inconsistent snaps and holds he had to deal with. Also, for a Packers team with Super Bowl aspirations, leaning heavily on a rookie comes with obvious risks. Crosby is certainly the safer selection.

With a better field goal unit around him, I do expect to see a more effective version of Crosby this season. But one area where improvement may be difficult is on kickoffs, as the soon-to-be 38-year-old has lost some power and struggled to get the ball through the end zone with regularity. This resulted in a poor Packers kick coverage unit having to defend more often than they should have last season.

Perhaps one solution is that the Packers look to punter Pat O’Donnell for assistance in this role–he does have some kickoff experience from his time with Chicago.

Ultimately, we will have to see how the summer unfolds, but I’m all for competition, and if Brkic can provide more of that for Crosby, then it’s a worthwhile addition–although, as I said, I still believe this is Crosby’s job until I see otherwise. And if that’s the case, maybe Brkic is someone the Packers can sneak onto the practice squad.