Brayden Narveson is Missing the Mark for the Green Bay Packers

After shuffling the deck, the Green Bay Packers' bet on rookie kicker Brayden Narveson is not paying off this season.

It only took the first four games of the Green Bay Packers’ 2024 NFL season to confirm what fans feared going into the year.

Packers kicker Brayden Narveson has not provided the answer to the Packers’ ongoing kicking woes since moving on from Mason Crosby following the 2022 season. The two missed field goals that Narveson had over the first half of the Packers’ 31-29 loss to the Vikings Sunday afternoon brought him down to hitting nine of his 13 field goal attempts to start the year, good for 69.2 percent (not nice). 

These struggles can’t just be chalked up to being a rookie kicker getting his first taste of the NFL and a whirlwind first month after finding a home in Green Bay as a waiver wire pickup. 

Narveson has only begun to be tested as his success getting the ball through the uprights has largely been confined to chip shots. A perfect 4-for-4 on field goals attempted within 20-29 yards, Narveson’s average distance on made field goals is 28.2 yards. That’s obviously shorter than the distance to convert extra points. Go to the 30-39-yard range and Narveson is 2-for-3 on such attempts. He’s 3-for-6 on attempts taken between 40-49 yards. 

Of course, Narveson’s struggles follow the rookie year struggles of Anders Carlson — the kicker Narveson replaced after Carlson was one of the early cuts ahead of roster cutdowns. While it’s fair to argue that Carlson was kicking under a bigger microscope considering who he was replacing, what can’t be argued is that Carlson offered more than what Narveson is currently bringing to the table right now. The Packers cut bait with Carlson after he converted 27 of his 33 field goal attempts last year, which was good at 81.8 percent. 

Are either perfect? No, of course not. Carlson’s fate was sealed with high-profile mistakes. His missed 41-yard field goal attempt with 6:21 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Packers holding a 21-17 lead over the 49ers in the NFC Divisional Playoff Game last season was damning. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst sought for competition during training camp and neither Carlson and veteran Greg Joseph ran away with a job that wound up going to Narveson after he was cut from the Tennessee Titans.

It’s from that lens that one has to wonder when the hammer is going to fall for Narveson if he even has one more game where he shows that he’s not up for the part. It was Gutekunst’s comments after roster cutdowns last month that were the most illuminating in any discussion regarding the Packers’ specialists.

"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."

It’s highly unlikely to expect someone to reach that standard after four weeks, but even just one of Narveson’s misses did prove to be the difference in Sunday’s loss. There’s no telling that could rear its ugly head again with Narveson struggling to even reach the bar of his maligned predecessor.

This is what makes the life of being an NFL kicker a ruthless business.

Achieving that standard of high-level efficiency and being able to kick in all sorts of different environments, weather and more is reserved for the likes of the elite kickers. Think Justin Tucker or the ascending Brandon Aubrey. Being able to make kicks in the most pressurized moments makes you a legend for life like Adam Vinatieri. 

As of right now, the Packers are a long ways away from finding someone who can reach either class of kicker. Barring a turn of fate, the cycle will continue for the Packers. It may be Narveson now and at this rate, it likely won’t be him for long. Whoever takes his place will face the same burden as the Packers look to reopen a window of contending for championships. 

Little did we know after the 2022 season that they would have a harder time finding a long-term replacement for Crosby than surefire Hall of Famer to-be Aaron Rodgers. Alas, here we are.