Mason Crosby had the second-worst year of his career last season, converting just 73.5% of his field goal attempts (17/25). While the veteran kicker was culpable for some mistakes, it became clear that the entire kicking operation had serious issues — from long snapping to holding. Crosby will be the Green Bay Packers kicker if healthy, but the rest of the operation has changed for 2022.
Long snapper
The Packers had two different long snappers last season. However, neither of them was solid enough to give the team security. First, they released former seventh-round pick Hunter Bradley because of his lack of athletic ability to help the unit after the snap. Green Bay promoted Steven Wirtel, who had spent the start of the season on the Packers practice squad, but the quality of snaps wasn’t much better. Wirtel also struggled with blocking, which cost the Packers in the playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
This year, the Packers signed undrafted free agent Jack Coco after rookie minicamp. Coco didn’t play as a long snapper during his last season in college because he moved to tight end. He also had never long-snapped for punts. But the rookie was solid in preseason games and won the battle against Wirtel. Still, Packers management and coaching staff have frequently said Coco is competing against potential available long snappers everywhere.
“I think he’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster, but we’re excited about where he is at this particular point,” special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said earlier in the preseason. “I think he understands that he’s competing against 31 other teams. Just because there’s not another one here, it doesn’t mean we’re not looking at everyone around the league or guys that may not be playing now. So, I think he knows he’s in constant competition.”
Holder
The Packers were clear in their intent to change punters. The team let Corey Bojorquez walk one year after trading with the Los Angeles Rams to acquire him, then signed former Chicago Bears veteran Pat O’Donnell. Fans questioned the move because Bojorquez has a slightly better career average — 45.4 yards per punt, against O’Donnell’s 45.1. There were consistency and cold weather factors involved in the decision. Still, one major asset for O’Donnell was his ability to hold, something that was a concern last season because Bojorquez and Crosby never seemed aligned.
“Certainly, his consistency. Not only as a punter but as a holder,” general manager Brian Gutekunst mentioned after signing the new punter. “Holding is a big part of that.”
Kicking question marks
Operational issues affected Crosby, but he was far from perfect on his own. With changes in the other pillars of the operation, there is more pressure on the veteran, who has been in Green Bay since 2007. He is the only player besides Aaron Rodgers who was part of the Super Bowl champion 2010 squad, which motivated the Packers to keep him after a rough season.
“For where our football team is, having a championship kind of kicker, a guy who can compete at that level, is important,” Gutekunst said in February. “There will always be competition, and everybody’s got to hold their own. But yeah, Mason, some of Mason’s (troubles), the things that happened with our special teams unit, again, we’ve got to make kicks, but at the same time, there were a lot of moving parts there.”
However, Crosby hasn’t practiced with the new operation; he’s been dealing with a knee injury that demanded surgery earlier in the offseason.
The Packers used Gabe Brkic for the first preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, but they waived him afterward. Ramiz Ahmed, who spent time with the Chicago Bears in 2020 and played in the USFL’s re-inaugural season for the Pittsburgh Maulers, was the active kicker for the rest of preseason.
Ahmed was better than Brkic during practice and perfect in preseason games, but not good enough to justify a 53-man roster spot. Last season, kicker J.J. Molson spent the entire year on the practice squad as an emergency alternative, so Ahmed might be hanging around there, waiting to be called up in case Crosby doesn’t bounce back quickly from his injury.
Special teams have been a serious issue for the Packers over the last decade, including the kicking operation. The team changed two-thirds of it — and the coaching staff — so management should soon have a better idea if Mason Crosby‘s struggles last season were a symptom of systemic dysfunction or a sign of individual decline.
