Packers sign kicker Dominik Eberle, hinting at Mason Crosby’s future

Green Bay can save north of $2 million by releasing Crosby this offseason

The Green Bay Packers announced on Tuesday that they signed kicker Dominik Eberle, who has spent the last two years with the Las Vegas Raiders, Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans since leaving Utah State. Eberle saw action in one game with Houston last season when he was activated as a Covid-19 replacement. Eberle previously worked with the new Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia with the Raiders in 2020.

Originally from Germany, “Das Boot” was able to set program records at the college level with the Aggies. Considering the fact that Mason Crosby holds a cap hit of over $4 million if rostered in 2022, there’s a decent chance that Eberle is the Packers’ placekicker in the upcoming season. The other internal option — if Crosby is released — is J.J. Molson, who was a preseason kickoff specialist for the Packers and was kept on the practice squad throughout the season.

Last week, Acme Packing Company took a look at the top kickers in the 2022 draft class to attempt to find a Crosby replacement. Three kickers, Cade York (LSU), Gabe Brkic (Oklahoma) and Caleb Shudak (Iowa) stood above the other options that the class has to offer. Using the same points versus expected methodology, based on Eberle’s college career, the newly-signed Packer would have ranked between the third- and fourth-best kicking prospect in the 2022 class, well ahead of Molson’s projection.

General manager Brian Gutekunst will have a press conference tomorrow where he will almost certainly be asked about the future of the place-kicking situation, along with presumable non-answers about quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ future.