Packers Kicking Competition Takes Wild Turn on Thursday

The Green Bay Packers famously had kicking issues last year as rookie Anders Carlson led the NFL in missed kicks. He most notably missed the field goal that would have extended the Packers' lead in the Divisional Round game against the San Francisco 49ers. He was made the scapegoat for the loss even though head coach Matt LaFleur and his teammates consistently came out in support of him.

Since then, who the Packers' starting kicker was going to be to start the 2024 season has been a massive point of debate. The Packers brought in Jack Podlesny and Greg Joseph to compete with Carlson in training camp. Podlesny has already been waived and the competition is now down to two: Carlson or Greg Joseph.

The Athletic's Packers beat writer Matt Schneidman said that Carlson may be in danger of losing his starting job after his training camp performance. Packers insider Ryan Wood had already reported on Thursday that Joseph made all three of his field goal attempts while Carlson only made one, missing two wide left, continuing his struggles from last season.

According to Schneidman, this brought Joseph's accuracy to 29/31 for training camp while Carlson is at 25/31.

Packers News: Anders Carlson is Losing Kicker Battle in Training Camp

Greg Joseph spent the last three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, making 82.2% of his field goal attempts and going 112/124 in his extra point attempts.

On the other hand, Carlson was 27 for 33 in field goals last season, while missing five of his 39 extra-point attempts. Not only has Joseph been more accurate, but he also has far more experience than Carlson.

Even though the Packers have shown full confidence in Carlson throughout his struggles, it's getting harder and harder to make the case for him to start over the veteran Joseph.

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