In our last instalment of reviewing every player at every position, we turn our attentions to Special Teams
Kickers
Mason Crosby
Mason Crosby had an incredibly difficult and tragic year from a family perspective and yet he was able to still put together an exceptional season on the field. Regardless of what his playing performance might have been, he wins an unofficial MVP Award for dealing with heartache and still being out on the field every Sunday.
In 2019, Crosby was successful on 22 of 24 field goal attempts – a 91.7% accuracy mark which equalled the Packers all-time single season accuracy mark (Jan Stenerud, 1981). Crosby also hit 41 of 42 extra points and 62.0% of his kick-offs were touchbacks. This was almost certainly the best year of his 13-year career, and he can consider himself unlucky not to have made the Pro Bowl (he was named a 1st Alternate). Crosby closed out the year as the only Packer to have played in every single regular season game throughout the decade (all 160 of them).
With Crosby entering 2020 as an unrestricted free agent, the Packers wasted little time in signing him to a new year 3 year contract.
Packers – All-Time Leaders in Field Goal Percentage (100 attempts) 81.6% - Ryan Longwell 81.0% - Mason Crosby 77.2% - Chris Jacke 61.5% - Chester Marcol 47.1% - Paul Hornung
Sam Ficken
Ficken was signed off waivers (from Seattle) in April and provided camp and pre-season competition for Mason Crosby before being waived at the final cut-down to the 53-man roster. Ficken was signed by the New York Jets on 10th September.
Punters
J.K. Scott
Scott was named 2nd Team All-Pro by PFF after starting and finishing the season very strongly with a little bit of a slump mid-season. He punted 77 times for 3,386 yards at a gross average of 44.0 yards per punt (10th highest in Packers history but only 28th in the NFL in 2019). Scott’s net average of 39.9 yards per punt ranks 3rd highest in Packers history (but just 24th in the NFL in 2019). He placed 29 punts inside the opponents 20-yard line (3rd all-time in Packers history) and according to PFF his average hang time per punt was an outstanding 4.46 seconds. He appeared in all 16 games.
The Packers continue to hope that Scott will progress further and be, at the very least, a solid NFL punter for a decade or so.
Long Snappers
Hunter Bradley
Bradley played exclusively as a long snapper again in 2019, doing a solid job in a role that typically only gets noticed when things go wrong. He played in 145 special teams plays (33.8% of the team’s total). Bradley remains solid at the position and will return to the Packers in 2020.
Find Peter on twitter here: @The_IT_Hedgehog