Within a matter of days, the Green Bay Packers reached out to the Tennessee Titans twice to find possible solutions to two of the biggest question marks on their 2024 roster: backup quarterback and kicker.
On Monday, the Packers agreed to send the Titans a seventh-round pick in the 2025 draft for quarterback Malik Willis. Willis is now the only other quarterback on the 53-man roster behind Jordan Love and is expected to be the primary backup.
On Wednesday, the Packers claimed rookie kicker Brayden Narveson off waivers from the Titans, making him the team’s new kicker after an uninspiring kicking battle between Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph all summer.
In some ways, the Packers have aggressively attacked two areas of the roster that weren’t good enough during training camp and could severely hurt the team’s chances of being a contender in 2024. Backup quarterbacks often have to play over the course of a season. Sometimes teams need them to win a few games while the starter is out. Kickers, on the other hand, have incredibly small margins, and a miss here or there can, and often does, make a difference. The Packers learned that lesson the hard way last January in San Francisco.
In another sense, the Packers are betting on inexperience and potential. Despite being drafted in the third round, Willis has thrown just 66 passes in just three regular season starts through 2024. He hasn’t started a single game and only played 22 total snaps last season. His talent is obvious, but Willis still fits the “developmental quarterback” category. Could he step into a game and hold down the fort for the Packers in 2024? As a kicker, Brayden is a rookie who has never kicked in a regular season game. He was outstanding in the preseason, making 6 of 7 field goals, including a 59-yard kick and a 46-yard kick that led to the game-winning goal. But it’s entirely possible that Narveson’s first significant kicks in the NFL will come in a foreign country (Brazil) in a nationally televised prime-time game (against the Eagles on Friday, Sept. 6) when the Packers open the 2024 season. The pressure is on.
Ideally, Willis will barely have to see the field and Narveson will quietly execute most of his kicks, avoiding game-winning misses for a Packers team that could be a Super Bowl contender this season.
Still, to the Packers’ credit, they’re not settling at two key spots, using talent acquisition tools – a trade and a waiver claim – to sign players they believe will add value. Time will tell if they made the right decisions. If Willis gets the Packers through a tough injury stretch and Narveson proves to be the solution at kicker, the Titans will ultimately help Matt LaFleur’s team write a key part of their 2024 history.
