Packers have impressive league-leading kicking stat since 1989

Green Bay Packers fans have heard the comment a thousand times: "The Packers are lucky to have had Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, as their QB over the past 30 years."

For the record, Green Bay has had eight starting QBs since 1992, fewest in the league. The New England Patriots have the next fewest with 14. The Cleveland Browns have had 40 different starting QBs since 1992, and the Chicago Bears have the next most at 35.

But what seems to get lost as fans talk about the starting quarterbacks for each team since 1992, is that over the past 26 seasons (from 1997-2022), the Packers have seen only three players attempt a field goal: Ryan Longwell, Dave Rayner and Mason Crosby.

With Green Bay drafting Auburn kicker Anders Carlson with the 207th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, it appears the Packers will see their first new kicker since the team drafted Crosby in 2007.

Longwell handled the placekicking duties from 1997-2005, followed by one year with Rayner as the kicker before Crosby came on board and was the kicker for 16 seasons from 2007-22. While the Packers saw only three kickers attempt a field goal from 1997-2022, the Washington Commanders had a league-leading 24 players attempt a field goal in that same period.

Here is a look at the number of players who attempted a field goal for each NFL team from 1997-2002.

3: Green Bay
6: New England
8: Baltimore, Houston (since 2002)
9: Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle
10: Buffalo, Indianapolis
11: Atlanta
12: Cincinnati, Detroit, Las Vegas, L.A. Rams, Miami, Pittsburgh
13: Minnesota
14: Cleveland (since 1999), Tennessee
15: Chicago, New Orleans, N.Y. Jets
16: Carolina, Kansas City, N.Y. Giants
17: Dallas, San Francisco
18: Arizona, Jacksonville
19: Tampa Bay
20: L.A. Chargers
24: Washington

From 1989 to 1996, the Packers had another veteran kicker in Chris Jacke, their sixth-round pick in the 1989 draft. Jacke lasted eight seasons in Green Bay before he handed the kicking chores to Longwell in 1997. In 1995, punter Craig Hentrich attempted five field goals.

That means the Packers had five different players attempt a field goal since 1989, a span of 34 years. That is the fewest number of kickers for a team since '89; the Ravens and Texans are next with the fewest kickers with eight (Baltimore since 1996 and Houston since 2002). Buffalo, Denver and Seattle each had 11 players attempt field goals since 1989.

The team with the most players with at least one field goal attempt from 1989 to 2022? Washington with 25.

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