What to Know: Packers cut K Gabe Brkic and sign K Ramiz Ahmed

The Green Bay Packers continue to churn their roster at the special teams positions.

On Sunday, the team would announce that they signed kicker Ramiz Ahmed and cut Gabe Brkic

Brkic was signed prior to training camp as an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma, where he was named a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, which is given to college football’s best kicker.

Unfortunately, it was a very inconsistent training camp for him, and it concluded with a horribly missed field goal against the San Francisco 49ers in the Packers preseason opener.

Once healthy, Mason Crosby will be the team’s kicker this season. Although he is coming off a down season, some of those struggles were a product of the poor snaps, holds, and blocking that the field goal unit experienced. There are also a lot of risks in relying on an unproven kicker late in the season.

But for the time being, Crosby is still on the Packers PUP list, and we don’t know whether or not he will be ready for Week 1.

Enter Ahmed, who was a 2019 undrafted rookie from Nevada. During his final collegiate season, he made 39 of his 44 extra point attempts and 14 of his 20 field goal attempts, including going three of eight from 40-plus yards. Forty-two of his 71 kickoff attempts resulted in touchbacks, per PFF ($$).

Ahmed spent the 2020 summer with the Chicago Bears but has no NFL snaps. Most recently, Ahmed played in the USFL, where he made 14 of his 22 attempts, which included a long of 61, according to the Packers team site.

Ahmed attended Sunday’s practice. Hopefully, Crosby will be available for the Packers’ Week 1 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, but if not, Green Bay needs a backup plan. Let’s see if Ahmed can be that player.

The Packers roster is at the maximum of 90 players, but by Tuesday, league-wide rosters have to be trimmed to 85 players.