After a year filled with some serious kicking miscues, the Green Bay Packers and their fans had to be pining for the days when Mason Crosby could be counted on to drill a clutch kick from anywhere inside of 60 yards. Unfortunately, Crosby's kicking days have come to a close following his latest statement.
Crosby, who spent last year out of football and only played in three games with the Giants during the 2021 season, has officially announced his retirement from football. Crosby, reflecting on his football journey, said that he "couldn't be more grateful" that almost all of his 17 seasons in the pros were spent with the Packers.
While Crosby may not be the first name that comes to mind when one thinks about all of those great Packers teams during the Aaron Rodgers era, his productivity and ability to come through when the chips were down should be more than enough to establish him as a franchise great.
Former Packers kicker Mason Crosby retires after 17 seasons
Crosby spent 16 of his 17 professional seasons with the Packers, who drafted the former Colorado kicker in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Crosby would go on to shatter the Packers' all-time scoring record and set it so high it seems unlikely anyone else will ever break it.
Crosby made 400 out of 492 field goal attempts in his career, good for an 81% success rate in the pros. While Crosby never made a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team, he made over 80% of his kicks eight times in his career and didn't miss a single regular-season field goal during the 2020 season.
Between 2007 and 2023, Crosby was second among all kickers in made field goals, trailing Matt Prater's mark by exactly one kick. Only Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski have made more field goals in the playoffs during Crosby's career than Green Bay's old No. 2.
Crosby was excellent in the postseason, making 31 of his 35 field goal attempts and providing seven of the team's 31 points in the lone Super Bowl victory of Rodgers' stint with the team. Crosby is without question the greatest special teams player in Packers history.
While it's a shame that Crosby's excellence wasn't celebrated by the wider NFL landscape during his career, he will always remain one of the great Packers in team history thanks to his integral role in nearly two decades of consistent winning football.