Packers declare Brayden Narveson amid ‘distinctive’ kicking state of affairs

GREEN BAY, Wis. — By the point the Inexperienced Bay Packers received to the top of their summerlong place-kicking competitors, they punted.

After an underwhelming battle between their 2023 kicker, Anders Carlson, and veteran Greg Joseph, common supervisor Brian Gutekunst in the long run picked neither. As an alternative, he claimed rookie Brayden Narveson off waivers from the Tennessee Titans on Wednesday.

The Packers had initially minimize Carlson on Tuesday however stored Joseph for a day till the waiver claims had been awarded. Neither is anticipated again on the Packers’ follow squad. Australian Alex Hale, a part of the Worldwide Participant Pathway program, is the follow squad kicker.

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“That is uncharted territory, I might say, that I have been in, in my time within the league,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur mentioned Wednesday. “You simply have to come back in and carry out. I do not understand how else to place it. But it surely’s positively a novel state of affairs.”

When requested tips on how to get a kicker he has by no means seen in sport motion prepared for the season opener in opposition to the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil, LaFleur added: “Not a query for me. That may be a query for [special teams coordinator] Wealthy Bisaccia.”

Nevertheless, LaFleur did say having a brand new, untested kicker might alter some in-game choices, at the very least early.

“Completely, one hundred pc, yeah,” he mentioned. “I feel you have to take into consideration all of the circumstances. No completely different although like once you exit and there is inclement climate. Generally that impacts among the decision-making you make. We’ll see. At the very least we’ll get a pair days with him to type of get a really feel for him as he performs. What’s laborious is you simply have no sport expertise with him. However he did a pleasant job in Tennessee, I do know that.”

Narveson made 79% of his discipline objective tries in school; he frolicked at three completely different colleges, most not too long ago at NC State in 2023, earlier than he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Titans. In two preseason video games, he made 6 of seven discipline targets, together with a 59-yarder and a game-winner, plus each of his further factors. However the Titans determined to stay with veteran Nick People.

The Packers gave up on Carlson, their sixth-round choose from 2023, after he failed to indicate sufficient enchancment over his rookie season to persuade Gutekunst that he had improved.

“I am in all probability not as affected person with specialists as I ought to be, I am actually not,” Gutekunst mentioned. “However on the similar time, I am very assured on this crew and what we will accomplish, so I need to be sure that we give this crew each alternative to win.

“So there’s going to be a regular that we will attempt to attain.”

Gutekunst mentioned it wasn’t Carlson’s miss from 32 yards late in final week’s preseason finale in opposition to the Baltimore Ravens that resulted in his determination however slightly your entire physique of labor. Nevertheless, that kick was harking back to a 41-yarder Carlson missed within the fourth quarter of a 24-21 divisional playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers final season.

Apart from kicker, the opposite hotly contested place battle for the Packers within the preseason was at backup quarterback. For the reply there, in addition they turned to the Titans, who traded Malik Willis to the Packers for a seventh-round choose. Willis arrived in time to follow with the Packers on Wednesday, and Gutekunst mentioned he believed the 2022 third-round choose can rise up to hurry rapidly sufficient to function Jordan Love’s backup for the opener.

“I did not get up considering I used to be going to be traded,” Willis mentioned of his ending in Tennessee. “So it positively caught me unexpectedly. Greater than something, you simply take it [for] what it’s. Fast turnaround, and the season’s beginning. There isn’t any extra lounging round and kinda preparing for the season. That is what it’s. There isn’t any time to essentially give it some thought. It is time to go.”

The Packers additionally re-signed quarterback Sean Clifford to the follow squad, and he could possibly be an possibility if Willis is not prepared for the Eagles sport Sept. 6. Clifford served as Love’s backup final season, however neither he nor rookie Michael Pratt separated themselves within the preseason.

“I feel actually there have been some underwhelming performances at occasions,” Gutekunst mentioned of Clifford and Pratt. “However on the similar time, Malik is a man that actually, he is in his third yr and he actually has proven a variety of development, notably this preseason. It was simply a chance for us so as to add a man that I feel cannot solely make performs along with his arm however along with his legs, as properly. I am excited to get him, get him within the constructing and see the place that goes.”