The Packers worked out five kickers Monday, but veteran Mason Crosby remains on track to return in time to play the season opener.
Crosby still is on the active/physically unable to perform list following offseason knee surgery.
“I’m hitting all the marks,” Crosby said after Tuesday’s practice, via Bill Huber of SI.com. “As of right now, this is six weeks out [from surgery], so that was kind of the goal was to be progressing and kicking more at this point. I hit a set inside today and felt really good. I’m just going to keep building off of that. The goal is obviously to be full-go and ready to go by Week 1.”
Since replacing Gabe Brkic, Ramiz Ahmed has shown he deserves a shot in the NFL. He made all four kicks against the Saints, and per Huber, Ahmed is 23-of-25 on field goal attempts at practice.
The Packers worked out Matt Ammendola, Cameron Dicker, Chase McLaughlin, Chandler Staton and Parker White, per the NFL’s personnel notice Monday. If they cut Ahmed, he surely will land elsewhere as the Cowboys and Jaguars are among teams in need of kicking help. That would leave Green Bay to find another kicker to add to the practice squad as insurance if they intend to do so.
Crosby has appeared in 241 consecutive games since 2007, the longest active streak, regardless of position, by 80 games.
He ranks 14th in NFL history with 1,806 points and 17th all-time with 370 field goals. He’s three field goals behind Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud for 16th all time. Only 11 kickers in NFL history have reached 400 field goals.
Crosby, though, missed nine field goal attempts last season as part of a myriad of special teams problems that prompted the hiring of Rich Bisaccia as special teams coach.
“He’s just a super-confident human being that knows exactly what he wants,” Crosby said. “I definitely like that. There’s just no guessing where you stand with Rich. That’s been real positive.”
