4 Green Bay Packers cuts to create cap room for the 2024 offseason

3. Anders Carlson, K (Cap Savings: $836,612)

Okay, cutting kicker Anders Carlson isn't going to make a huge dent in the salary cap room for 2024. Whether before June 1 or after, cutting the 2023 rookie would save the Packers less than $1 million. But minor moves of that nature can add up to have a positive effect on a team's financials and, more pressingly, there isn't a more obvious cut to make in that capacity than Carlson.

Frankly, drafting Carlson in the sixth round of the 2023 draft looked like a mistake to many in the moment. The Auburn product was unreliable in terms of field goal and extra-point percentage in college, even if he had dynamite in his foot with a ton of power. To paraphrase Denzel Washington as Herman Boone in Remember the Titans, you can kick it 70 yards but can't make it from 30.

The most glaring miss, of course, came in the eventual three-point loss to the 49ers in the Divisional Round when he missed from 41 yards out in the fourth quarter. Yes it was raining and the conditions were adverse, but it was an unfortunately familiar refrain for Carlson. While he was perfect (20-of-20) from 20-39 yards on the season, he was a dismal 4-of-8 from 40-49 yards in the regular season and had an overall make percentage of just 81.8%. Even worse, his extra-point make rate was only 87.2%.

Carlson became a headache for Packers fans throughout the season, and apparently for the front office too. Green Bay signed former Georgia Bulldogs kicker Jack Podlesny in late January to seemingly compete with Carlson for the job. The writing is on the wall that, at the very least, Carlson is in danger of being cut if it's not already a formality at this point.