6 Packers Who Could Be Cut Before Playing a Snap

5. Greg Joseph, kicker

The kicker competition in Green Bay has taken a rather interesting turn. It’s hard to tell at this point if the Packers are going to base their kicking job on what transpires at training camp, but it sounds like young Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph have been trading “best” days throughout the first week or so.

One day it’s Carlson going 7/7 and Joseph going 6/7. Another day it’s going to be Carlson going 4/7 and Joseph going 6/7 or 7/7. The fact is, we’re going to need to see these guys get the job done in game situations before making any final determinations, and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia’s judgment is going to be trusted here.

But Greg Joseph has to be considered the likelier cut candidate at this point because the Packers invested actual NFL Draft capital into Anders Carlson just last year, and you sort of expect that you’re going to have to live with rookie valleys and kickers taking their lumps.

Historically, Joseph has made under 83 percent of his career kicks, so the Packers have a much larger body of work to look at with him versus just what he’s doing at training camp. There’s also the matter of recent history with the kicking Carlson family. Anders’ brother Daniel was a draft pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 but was cut after a rocky start to his career. Bisaccia took him in as a member of the Raiders and helped turn him into an All-Pro kicker.

The Packers want to push Anders Carlson, which is why I believe they brought in Greg Joseph. But a training camp kicking competition alone isn’t going to win Joseph the job. He’s going to have to prove to be substantially better than Carlson over the course of the preseason, and Carlson is going to have to lose the job.

We may never see Greg Joseph kick for the Packers in the regular season (but we also might), but he could parlay a strong offseason into an opportunity elsewhere.