Earlier this offseason, the Green Bay Packers signed kicker Brandon McManus to a three-year $15.3 million contract, ensuring that they will have stability at the position for the foreseeable future. Of course, this kind of peace of mind was something that the team enjoyed for the better part of 16 seasons when Mason Crosby, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, was kicking for Green Bay.
But following the 2022 season, the Packers decided to go young and did not re-sign Crosby. Instead, they selected Anders Carlson in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, a decision that they would regret for over a year.
Carlson led the NFL in missed kicks as a rookie, and performed so poorly in 2024 training camp that the Packers replaced him Brayden Narveson, whom they claimed off of waivers from the Tennessee Titans.
Unfortunately, Narveson was not that much better.
Carlson competed for the starting kicker job in Green Bay last year with long-time journeyman Greg Joseph. However, both kickers did not do enough to earn the job, prompting the Packers to part ways with both of them.
Narveson, on the other hand, had a really strong showing for the Titans during their preseason games and training camp, but was not going to make the team ahead of Nick Folk. So, Tennessee waived him at the conclusion of the preseason, and the Packers happily scooped him up.
However, the optimism surrounding Narveson was short-lived.
In seven games for Green Bay, Narveson had the worst field goal percentage in the NFL (70.6%). Unwilling to go through another season of inconsistency at the position, the Packers released him after seven weeks and signed McManus for the rest of the year.
Narveson returned to Tennessee, but missed the only field goal he attempted for them.
Without any NFL teams showing interest in him during OTA’s, Narveson decided to sign with the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL) during their preseason.
According to Christopher Kuhagen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, though, Narveson’s tenure in Edmonton was even shorter than his stint with the Packers:
“Narveson signed with the Elks on May 28.
“His signing came between the team’s first and second preseason games. Narveson did not kick in the team’s final preseason game on May 30. A day later, he was one of 27 players cut as the Elks reduced their roster ahead of the first regular-season game.”
As one can see, Narveson was cut three days after originally signing with the Elks.
Now, he will join a plethora of kickers vying for opportunities with NFL teams during training camp. It will be interesting to see if any of them are willing to give him a shot.
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