BREAKING NEWS: Former Auburn kicker Anders Carlson returns to the NFL

Former Auburn kicker Anders Carlson returns to the NFL

Former Auburn kicker Anders Carlson has signed with the San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad, the NFL team announced on Tuesday.

Carlson comes aboard with the 49ers dealing with two injured kickers. A third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Jake Moody sustained an ankle injury in a 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 6 and missed Sunday’s 36-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. San Francisco brought in Matthew Wright to kick in that game, but he sustained a shoulder injury.

Carlson had been a free agent since Aug. 27, when the Green Bay Packers released him after he served as the team’s kicker in the 2023 season.

Packers release kicker Anders Carlson

Green Bay had an offseason/training camp/preseason kicking competition between Carlson and Greg Joseph, who had been the Minnesota Vikings’ kicker for the past three seasons. But when the time came to set the regular-season roster, the Packers cut Carlson and Joseph and claimed Brayden Narveson after he had been waived by the Tennessee Titans.

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An undrafted rookie, Narveson did Tennessee’s kicking in the preseason. He made 6-of-7 field-goal attempts (with the miss coming from 58 yards) and both extra points. He made a 59-yarder and hit a 46-yarder as time expired in a 16-15 win over the Seahawks. But the Titans decided to keep 17-year veteran Nick Folk as their kicker.

Carlson joined the Packers as a sixth-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. He displaced 16-year veteran Mason Crosby as Green Bay’s kicker and became the first rookie in league history to make a field goal in 17 regular-season games. But with the playoffs included, he also had the most misses on extra points with six and on total kicks with 13 in the NFL in 2023.

In his first NFL season, Carlson made 27-of-33 field-goal attempts and 34-of-39 extra-point tries in the regular season and 2-of-3 field-goal attempts and 7-of-8 extra-point tries in two postseason games.

Carlson’s postseason field-goal miss came on a 41-yard attempt with 6:18 left in a second-round game against San Francisco on Jan. 20. The 49ers responded with a 12-play, 69-yard drive capped by running back Christian McCaffrey’s 6-yard touchdown run with 67 seconds to play. San Francisco took a 24-21 lead instead of tying the game, and that ended up as the final score.