Green Bay Packers kicker Greg Joseph is in the throes of a heated competition with Anders Carlson. Following an impressive kicking performance during Thursday’s practice, Joseph may have gained a slight edge over Carlson.
The five-year veteran made all seven attempts for the day, bringing his total to 29-31 (94 percent) through the first two weeks of training camp. Carlson had been neck and neck with Joseph until he went 4-7 on Thursday, setting the second-year kicker back to 25-31 (81 percent) for camp.
It’s a comfortable lead for the veteran kicker, but Joseph isn’t focusing on his kicking percentage after each practice. Instead, he treats each kick as if he is 0-for-0.
“I don’t look at stats,” said Joseph. “I don’t look at yesterday. I’m not looking at tomorrow. Look at today and literally seeing my foot through each and every ball one at a time singularly, and that’s it. I don’t look at it 7-for-7. It’s one-for-one times by seven in my head, so keeping that mindset and then, you know, obviously trying to stay in that groove and taking that mindset to the preseason.”
The Packers won’t officially kick off their preseason until August 10, though Joseph will have an opportunity to kick inside Lambeau Field before then. The team will host their annual Family Night on Saturday, where Joseph hopes he will have better success than in the past.
As a member of the Minnesota Vikings, Joseph kicked at Lambeau on three separate occasions. He’s connected on just three out of seven attempts, with all four misses coming in his last two visits. In 2022, Joseph missed attempts from 46 and 50 yards in a 41-17 loss to Green Bay on New Year’s Day. Last season, Joseph saw similar results, failing to connect from 42 and 44 yards away, the latter of which was blocked by defensive lineman Karl Brooks.
Given his recent struggles, it would be easy for Joseph to get inside his own head. Fortunately, being around other veterans has taught him to focus solely on his next kick rather than getting caught up in the numbers.
“I think it’s real easy to get mixed up in all of that,” Joseph said. “I think it’s something that I had heard from vets and gotten advice from vets, but it’s one thing to know it and another thing to trust it and input it.”
Joseph’s maturity could be his biggest advantage over Carlson while competing for Green Bay’s kicking duties. As a rookie, Carlson couldn’t seem to get out of his own way toward the end of the season when he missed a kick in nine of the last 12 games, including the playoffs. Joseph has also had some bad stretches in the past but has managed to come back from them.
Ultimately, the job may come down to who performs better in the preseason. But for now, it’s too early to say.
“It’s just early. I’m just glad they’re all healthy and kicking the ball right now,” special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said Monday. “It’s still a long process. It’s early in the process of what we’re trying to get to at the end. We’ll just keep kicking.”