It's almost training camp time for the Green Bay Packers, so it's time to evaluate each position group on the roster.

Special teams

The Green Bay Packers spent a lot of money to hire Rich Bisaccia two years ago as the highest-paid special teams coordinator in football. But that has much more to do with his performance as an interim head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders than to his track record as a coordinator. That combination of factors created a new regression in 2023, after a decent year in 2022.

According to the respected Rick Gosselin rankings, Green Bay only had the 29th special teams unit in football. Part of that was just penalties — the worst in the NFL, with 19 for 178 yards. But the lack of good blocking and especially the failures in the kicking game have been significant issues.

Trying to solve that, the Packers decided to create competition. It will be the same coaching staff, but they are trying to upgrade at key positions, hoping that training camp battles can take the most out of the pieces.

Outside of punter Daniel Whelan, whom the Packers signed from the XFL a year ago and who had a solid first season in the NFL, general manager Brian Gutekunst loaded the 90-man roster with specialists.

Kicker

You might think the Packers problems with the kicking game are new, but Mason Crosby is mostly overrated. He played with the Packers between 2007 and 2022, and he never made a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team — Crosby was consistently average, which isn't bad but shouldn't preclude them from trying to get better, particularly at this stage of his career.

So the decision to move on from Crosby was completely understandable. The problem was how they made it. Using a draft pick on a kicker is never a good idea in terms of process, and they got a player projected to be undrafted (Anders Carlson) in the sixth round mostly because his brother Daniel Carlson has a history with Rich Bisaccia.

As a rookie, Carlson struggled. He converted 81.8% of his field goals in the regular season (which is not awful, but it's not good either), but the biggest issues were with extra points: He missed five, the highest number in the NFL.

In the playoffs, Anders Carlson missed an extra point against the Dallas Cowboys and a huge 41-yard field goal against the San Francisco 49ers — that would put the Packers seven points ahead in the divisional round, and instead the 49ers were able to score a go-ahead touchdown in the following drive to win by three.

That sequence of mistakes was too much for the Packers front office. Right after the season, they signed Jack Podlesny to create some sort of competition. The big move came a couple of months later, when they added veteran Greg Joseph, formerly from the Minnesota Vikings. He had similar numbers in 2023, but seems to be more reliable in extra points.

Recently, Green Bay decided to part ways with Podlesny to claim undrafted rookie James Turner from the Detroit Lions — reportedly, he had a strong offseason program in Detroit, but was cut after the Lions signed UFL star Jake Bates.

Going into training camp with an unusual three-way battle at kicker, the Packers would certainly love if Carlson can take a step forward. But they won't be prisoners of that hope.

Long snapper

The Packers have had significant issues at long snapper since letting Brett Goode leave in 2018. They even drafted Hunter Bradley in 2018, Gutekunst's first draft as a general manager, but the decision didn't pan out. In 2021, a missed block by Steven Wirtel cost them the playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, throwing away a shot as the first seed in the NFC.

Trying to solve that, the Packers signed veteran Matthew Orzech to a three-year contract last offseason. But the Super Bowl champion for the Los Angeles Rams wasn't the solution the Packers hoped for, playing at a mediocre level at best.

So, competition is once again the attempt. Right after the draft was over, Green Bay signed undrafted rookie Peter Bowden, from Wisconsin. Usually, undrafted players are not viewed as a real threat to a veteran, but at the long snapper position it might be a different story. Bowden is the consensus top player of the class at his position.

If the rookie can outplay or at least be on the same level as Orzech is, it makes sense to give him the roster spot thinking about cost and potential long-term ceiling.

Return game

Keisean Nixon has been the best kickoff returner in the NFL over the last two years, with two First-Team All-Pro selections. But the new kickoff rules created a new wrinkle, so he will have to face internal competition as well.

He is favored to return after signing a new three-year deal to stay in Green Bay. But the new format is more favorable to punt returners. Nixon can still be good, but second-year wide receiver Jayden Reed is also in the mix — which was clear during the offseason program.

At least, the competition here is between two players who can perform at a high level, and not trying to patch a previously failed result.

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