The Green Bay Packers will have a new face heading the special teams unit this year, rookie kicker Brayden Narveson.
Last offseason, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst made Anders Carlson the 207th pick in the NFL Draft. Immediately stepping into the starting kicker role, Carlson converted on 27-of-33 attempts, while making 34-of-39 extra point attempts. On the surface, those numbers look adequate, but the misses in big spots, including in the NFC Divisional Round against the San Francisco 49ers, caused concern.
To help combat this concern, Gutekunst brought in veteran kicker Greg Joseph this offseason to challenge Carlson for the starting kicking job. Joseph made a name for himself in the NFL, making 82.2% of kicks in Minnesota over the past three seasons.
Many thought the two-month competition between the two kickers would give a better idea of the position, as well as stabilize it a bit. That ultimately did not come to fruition, as both kickers were cut after the preseason and the Packers elected to sign Brayden Narveson, who spent the offseason with the Tennessee Titans.
Narveson spent the previous six years kicking in college — two years at Iowa State, three years at Western Kentucky and one year at North Carolina State. While in college, Narveson converted 78% of his field goal attempts and 100% of his extra point attempts, totaling 409 career points. He also earned two second-team All-Conference USA Awards while with Western Kentucky.
In the preseason for the Titans, Narveson flashed his skill, making 6-of-7 field goal attempts and two extra point attempts. The apex of his Titans career came in the team’s second preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks. In the game, he drilled a 59-yard field goal.
Narveson’s power has been on full display his whole career, as during his time at North Carolina State, he booted a 57-yard field goal, which stands as the school record. Going back even further, he also converted a 58-yard field goal during his time in high school.
“(Narveson) has had a lot of work at the battery to this point, you know, where he was in Tennessee and coming out of school … so I think that he will be ready to go,” said Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia.
While his 100% extra point rate in college is certainly a sign for good fortune, bringing a kicker into the organization with no experience on the team a week and half before the first game may cause some concern. Either way, Bisaccia is confident in Narveson, saying the Green Bay evaluated the kicker throughout the spring and summer months.
“We did a deep dive into him coming out from NC State, because we liked him,” said Bisaccia. “He’s got a great body, he is strong and he had a really good preseason over there at Tennessee, so we have been following him along with others throughout the preseason, but we did a lot of work on him coming out.”
Narveson wins kicking job in Green Bay
