The Green Bay Packers recently answered one of their biggest offseason questions by committing to their season’s kicker, and it wasn’t one of the players on the roster.
By claiming Brayden Narveson from the Tennessee Titans over rolling with Anders Carlson or Greg Joseph, the Packers are entering uncharted waters by approaching their regular season opener with a largely untested kicker. Brian Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur have expressed confidence in Narveson — and in special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia’s ability to prepare him.
A new kicker is just one element Bisaccia will need to work on in his third season in Green Bay. The venerated special teams guru was hired to change the culture and performance of the Packers’ historically dreadful third phase. While Bisaccia brought improvements in his first season, even earning the assistant head coach title afterward, his second season saw the Packers regress into their usual form.
I would take a bullet for Bisaccia, but it’s hard to say his special teams unit has lived up to the hype. Does he have what it takes to elevate the woeful Packers special teams unit toward something resembling success?
Bisaccia likely played a huge role in drafting Anders Carlson, having coached his brother Daniel in Las Vegas and thinking he could catch lightning twice.
Obviously, that didn’t work.
“We all felt coming out he had the ability to be a good kicker,” Bisaccia said last week. “I still think he has the ability to be a good kicker. He improved coming back from last year. I just think the consistency level we’re looking for wasn’t reached.”
We saw highlights of what the Packers liked about Carlson. However, the Packers had to weigh patience versus tangible success and chose to move on from the second-year kicker. It doesn’t reflect well on Green Bay’s gamble or Bisaccia’s ability to prepare the young kicker.
Carlson’s rocky rookie season is one of the major reasons the Packers finished 29th in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings, but it wasn’t the only one.
The Packers led the NFL in ST penalties, with 19 for 178 yards. For reference, the league average was 11.9 penalties and 97.9 yards.
That’s appalling for a unit coached by one of the league’s most respected coaches and featuring plenty of veteran players.
Bisaccia clearly has a strong influence on the roster, so it’s not a good look when his group isn’t performing.
He said he would use starters on teams more often than previous coordinators. While that’s technically true, Bisaccia’s core has mostly been teams-only or fringe roster players.
We’ve seen Gutekunst make picks with teams in mind, as he did by taking Tariq Carpenter in the 2022 draft. Carpenter is no longer with the team. Likewise, the Packers also released some players they retained for the team’s roles, like Dallin Leavitt, when they deemed their overall value less than needed.
One of the most controversial personnel choices this year with teams in mind came at safety. The Packers waived Anthony Johnson Jr., a promising player who saw starting snaps this offseason, and the New York Giants claimed him. Meanwhile, Green Bay kept Zayne Anderson, who was primarily a special teams player. Anderson deserved a shot at the roster thanks to his teams role and emerging skills on defense, and it was surprising to see him get the edge over Johnson Jr. However, the Packers likely made that move with Bisaccia in mind.
Of the non-specialist top-10 most-played special teamers from last season, four of the players (Jonathan Owens, Josiah Deguara, Kristian Welch, and Leavitt) are no longer on the team. Eric Wilson and Isaiah McDuffie will play bigger roles on defense this season, meaning they’ll likely play less on teams. Ditto for Tucker Kraft with the offense. Bisaccia also won’t have Tyler Davis, who played a significant role on teams in 2022 but missed the 2023 season and will miss the 2024 season. They also replaced Carlson.
That means Bisaccia will need to find ways to elevate new players in prominent teams roles. As Bisaccia mentioned, Special teams are volatile from year to year, so it’s not an entirely new situation. However, it will mean Bisaccia needs to prove himself with a new group of players to justify the team’s faith in him.
Bisaccia has earned major points with Keisean Nixon‘s development, who emerged as an All-Pro kick returner the past two seasons. But it’s worth noting that the team was so reluctant to move on from Amari Rodgers in that role, even with mountains of evidence as to why it wasn’t working. Therefore, the team may have been lucky Nixon was so good. Nixon will also play a larger role on defense under Jeff Hafley but is still the team’s kick returner.
The league has adopted the UFL’s kickoff rules, creating a new challenge for special teams coordinators. With Nixon’s skills and the team running kickoffs more than others in previous seasons, Bisaccia can stand out in this area.
I’m not ready to move on from Bisaccia yet. I absolutely love the man himself. But it’s fair to say he hasn’t been as advertised thus far in his time in Green Bay. With a new kicker, new kickoff rules, and a new group of potential teamers in the mix, Bisaccia has a challenge ahead of himself and an opportunity to show the Packers he can navigate these tricky seas. Year 3 will be a big one for the respected coordinator.
