Following kicker Anders Carlson‘s struggles down the stretch of the 2023 regular season and into the playoffs, the Packers signed Jack Podlesny to a reserve/futures deal in January and subsequently added veteran Greg Joseph in March. The trio remained on the roster throughout the offseason and engaged in what ESPN’s Rob Demovsky called an “intense three-way competition” this spring.

Per Demovsky, that competition could well continue into training camp, and it is a reflection of how poorly Carlson’s rookie season ended. A sixth-round draft choice last April, Carlson was essentially handed the placekicking job, as Green Bay did not even roster another kicker during last summer’s training camp. Although his season started out well enough, Carlson misfired on 10 kicks (field goals and PATs) over the final 12 games of the campaign, including the playoffs. That was capped by a devastating miss on a 41-yard field goal attempt in a divisional round matchup with the 49ers, which would have given the Packers a seven-point lead with a little over six minutes to play. Green Bay ultimately lost the game by a 24-21 score.

Carlson’s 87.2% success rate on PATs was the worst mark among qualified players in the 2023 regular season, and his 81.8% FG perecentage was a bottom-10 showing. That said, team brass clearly thinks highly of him, and he did perform well this offseason. Said head coach Matt LaFleur, “I think Anders had a pretty solid spring. I think all these guys have kind of had their moments, but I think particularly of late, he’s done a really nice job.”

Joseph, meanwhile, finished with an even lower FG success rate in 2023, converting at an 80.0% clip (though he did sink 94.7% of his extra point tries). He at least offers a fair amount of experience, having served as the Vikings’ primary kicker over each of the past three seasons and having also seen action with the Browns and Titans. His 82.6% career conversion rate on field goal attempts is uninspiring, and as Demovsky notes, the South Africa native has not kicked particularly well at Lambeau Field, connecting on just three of his seven career attempts at Lombardi Avenue. Nonetheless, he said he chose to sign with the Packers because he “liked the opportunity,” meaning that he believes he has a real chance to unseat Carlson.

The dark horse candidate, Podlesny, was signed by Minnesota as an undrafted free agent last year and actually engaged in a brief training camp battle with Joseph for the Vikes’ kicking job, a battle that Joseph obviously won. Podlesny signed with the Packers in the midst of his search for non-football jobs, and like Carlson, he also ended offseason work on a high note.

Podlesny acknowledged that he does not know what the Packers are planning for training camp with respect to their kicking situation, and LaFleur is playing it close to the vest as well.

“I think that’s to be determined, quite honestly,” LaFleur said at the end of last week’s minicamp. “We’ll see how it all plays out, and ultimately that’s going to be [GM Brian Gutekunst‘s] decision. But that’s something that we’ve certainly talked about.”