Packers claim Brayden Narveson amid ‘unique’ kicking situation

GREEN BAY, Wis. — By the time the Green Bay Packers got to the end of their summerlong place-kicking competition, they punted.

After an underwhelming battle between their 2023 kicker, Anders Carlson, and veteran Greg Joseph, general manager Brian Gutekunst in the end picked neither. Instead, he claimed rookie Brayden Narveson off waivers from the Tennessee Titans on Wednesday.

The Packers had initially cut Carlson on Tuesday but kept Joseph for a day until the waiver claims were awarded. Neither is expected back on the Packers’ practice squad. Australian Alex Hale, part of the International Player Pathway program, is the practice squad kicker.

“This is uncharted territory, I would say, that I’ve been in, in my time in the league,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Wednesday. “You just have to come in and perform. I don’t know how else to put it. But it’s definitely a unique situation.”

When asked how to get a kicker he has never seen in game action ready for the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil, LaFleur added: “Not a question for me. That is a question for [special teams coordinator] Rich Bisaccia.”

However, LaFleur did say having a new, untested kicker could alter some in-game decisions, at least early.

“Absolutely, 100 percent, yeah,” he said. “I think you’ve got to take into account all the circumstances. No different though like when you go out and there’s inclement weather. Sometimes that affects some of the decision-making you make. We’ll see. At least we’ll get a couple days with him to kind of get a feel for him as he performs. What’s hard is you just don’t have any game experience with him. But he did a nice job in Tennessee, I know that.”

Narveson made 79% of his field goal tries in college; he spent time at three different schools, most recently at NC State in 2023, before he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Titans. In two preseason games, he made 6 of 7 field goals, including a 59-yarder and a game-winner, plus both of his extra points. But the Titans decided to stick with veteran Nick Folk.

The Packers gave up on Carlson, their sixth-round pick from 2023, after he failed to show enough improvement over his rookie season to convince Gutekunst that he had improved.

“I’m probably not as patient with specialists as I should be, I’m really not,” Gutekunst said. “But at the same time, I’m very confident in this team and what we can accomplish, so I want to make sure we give this team every opportunity to win.

“So there’s going to be a standard that we’re going to try to reach.”

Gutekunst said it wasn’t Carlson’s miss from 32 yards late in last week’s preseason finale against the Baltimore Ravens that resulted in his decision but rather the entire body of work. However, that kick was reminiscent of a 41-yarder Carlson missed in the fourth quarter of a 24-21 divisional playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers last season.

Besides kicker, the other hotly contested position battle for the Packers in the preseason was at backup quarterback. For the answer there, they also turned to the Titans, who traded Malik Willis to the Packers for a seventh-round pick. Willis arrived in time to practice with the Packers on Wednesday, and Gutekunst said he believed the 2022 third-round pick can get up to speed quickly enough to serve as Jordan Love‘s backup for the opener.

“I didn’t wake up thinking I was going to be traded,” Willis said of his ending in Tennessee. “So it definitely caught me by surprise. More than anything, you just take it [for] what it is. Quick turnaround, and the season’s starting. There’s no more lounging around and kinda getting ready for the season. This is what it is. There’s no time to really think about it. It’s time to go.”

The Packers also re-signed quarterback Sean Clifford to the practice squad, and he could be an option if Willis isn’t ready for the Eagles game Sept. 6. Clifford served as Love’s backup last season, but neither he nor rookie Michael Pratt separated themselves in the preseason.

“I think certainly there were some underwhelming performances at times,” Gutekunst said of Clifford and Pratt. “But at the same time, Malik is a guy that certainly, he’s in his third year and he really has shown a lot of progression, particularly this preseason. It was just an opportunity for us to add a guy that I think can not only make plays with his arm but with his legs, as well. I’m excited to get him, get him in the building and see where that goes.”