It was the best of time, it was the worst of time. While Charles Dickens died long before Mason Crosby was born, his famous opening lines to “A Tale of Two Cities” could easily be describing the last two seasons of Crosby’s career.
In 2020, the Packers all-time leading scorer had the best season of any kicker in franchise history. He made all 16 of his field goal attempts and kicked 59 extra points. No kicker in the 100-plus year history of the Packers had ever enjoyed a perfect season kicking field goals before. That was the 13th time in 14 seasons that Crosby had topped 100 points for a season.
But 2021 was a tougher season for the former Colorado star. He missed nine field goal tries in 34 attempts, his least accurate season since 2012. In the Packers playoff loss to the 49ers, he had a field goal blocked just before halftime that could have made a big difference in the outcome of the game.
Crosby isn’t fully to blame for his struggles last season. The Packers blocking on field goals left a lot to be desired. Punter Cory Bojorquez also struggled as his holder. The team also went through two long snappers last season in Hunter Bradley and Steve Wirtel but neither of them was very consistent which further disrupted Crosby’s timing.
Crosby has been a Packer since 2007. He has spent 15 seasons with the team and is one of only two players left on the current roster who were on the last Packers team to win the Super Bowl back in 2010 (Aaron Rodgers is the other).
He is also the Packers’ all-time leading scorer with 1,806 points, more than 700 more than second-place Ryan Longwell.
Crosby will turn 38 before the start of the 2022 NFL season. That’s ancient for a football player although it’s not unusual for kickers who take care of themselves to kick effectively into their 40s.
The Packers are hoping that Crosby can bounce back like he did after his rough 2012 season. There are reasons the team wants to bring Crosby back this season. He has always been a clutch kicker. Even last year, he booted a last-second field goal that beat the 49ers in Week 3 and an overtime game-winner against the eventual AFC Champion Bengals two weeks later.
Crosby’s most famous clutch kick came in the 2016 NFC Divisional Playoffs against the Cowboys. Crosby kicked a 56-yard field goal with 1:33 left to put the Packers ahead by three points and then kicked the game-winning, 51-yard field goal as time expired to give the Packers a dramatic 34-31 win to send them to the NFC Championship Game.
Crosby alo knows how to kick at Lambeau Field which can be very tricky especially in November and December. When the weather gets cold, the ball gets harder and tougher to kick for long distances. The winds also swirl at Lambeau and Crosby knows how to read the winds and adjust accordingly. That takes time to learn and master.
GM Brian Gutekunst was quick to dispel rumors that the Packers may try to save cap space and look elsewhere for a kicker this season. Earlier in the offseason, he told reporters, “For where our football team is, having a championship kind of kicker, a guy who can compete at that level, is important.”
Gutekunst added, “Obviously, Mason had to adjust to a lot of things that were happening with our special teams unit and the snappers and the new punter and holder. With those moving parts, he had to adjust and I thought he did a really nice job toward the end of the year. We’re in that offseason period where we get a chance to look at a lot of guys.”
While the Packers want to bring Crosby back this season, they aren’t taking any chances. New special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia brought in two players to challenge Crosby before OTAs in former practice squad player J.J. Molson and Dominik Eberle.
Crosby outkicked both of his competitors during OTAs and madatory minicamp. Molson was let go first and Eberle, who Bisaccia was familiar with from their time with the Raiders, was also cut. The Packers then signed Gabe Brkic off waivers from the Vikings. He will be Crosby’s competition for the kicking job heading into training camp.
The Packers are hoping Crosby will be their kicker in 2022. It is his job to lose. He is popular in the locker room and with the fan base and his experience and reputation as a clutch kicker is invaluable. But the team cannot afford a repeat of the disastrous season they had last year on special teams. Crosby has to win his job back and be better than he was a year ago to keep it.
You can follow Gil Martin on Twitter @GilPackers