The Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings rivalry runs deep, as deep as any matchup in the NFL. When a player moves from one team to the other, that creates even more of a ripple effect in the rivalry. There is a new member of the Minnesota-Green Bay tandem, kicker Greg Joseph.
Joseph signed a one-year deal with the Packers on Tuesday, per his agent Brett Tessler and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Joseph spent the last three seasons of his career with the Vikings, making over 82% of his field goal attempts. He's made 82.6% of his field goals throughout his five-year career and made 16 from 50+.
Joseph has stayed healthy as well, he did not miss a game over the last three seasons. He was undrafted in 2018 and landed with the Cleveland Browns before kicking in two games for the Tennessee Titans in 2019. He did not see game action in 2020 before locking into the starting role for the Vikings.
Joseph, who will turn 30 before the 2024 season begins, has never missed a kick in the playoffs. He's 14-for-14 with two field goals in four games, a testament to his clutch gene and his reliability for the Vikings.
The Packers were looking for that reliability after a rocky 2023 with Anders Carlson as their kicker. The numbers were not pretty and neither were the rumors and reports. Now Carlson has some competition and could be looking for a new job in a few months.
Packers aim to fix kicking woes
Being an NFL kicker is one of the toughest occupations in sports. There is some praise, albeit not nearly enough when kickers do well. On the other hand, the boos are never louder than when a kicker misses a big field goal or doinks an extra point.
Anders Carlson heard a lot of those boos during his rookie season with the Packers. The sixth-round pick missed six field goals and five extra points in the regular season, then missed a field goal and extra point each in the playoffs.
It wasn’t too much for the Packers to make a change in the season, but Green Bay saw an opportunity to improve during the offseason and pounced on Greg Joseph.
The Joseph signing doesn’t necessarily signal Green Bay giving up on Carlson, but the 25-year-old has plenty of work cut out for him to make the 53-man roster in September.
The Packers want to win in 2024 and they need a reliable kicker to do that. Carlson doesn’t quite fit that bill right now hence why Green Bay decided to make an addition this early in the offseason.
With the size of the practice squad, there is a chance the Packers hang on to Carlson if he loses the starting job to Joseph. Of course, Green Bay could find a trade partner for Carlson, as getting anything in return for him would be a positive.
Maybe Anders Carlson shocks us all and beats out Greg Joseph for the Packers' kicking job. What a storyline that would be heading into the 2024 season.
Follow Us
Subscribe