Mason Crosby Is Building a Legacy With the Packers

Mason Crosby is climbing the all-time NFL scoring ranks after surpassing the Packers record.

As Mason Crosby enters his 12th year in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, the veteran kicker looks to add to his already impressive legacy with the team.  After being selected in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL draft, Crosby has slowly climbed the Packers all-time leading scorer list where he passed Ryan Longwell back in 2015 as the new leader in franchise history.  Now sitting at 1,345 career points, he sits almost 300 points above the second spot in team history and will have a commanding lead when he decides to hang up his kicking shoes and walk away into retirement.

While his career stats with the Packers are impressive, Crosby’s remarkable work in the postseason through his career is helping define just how clutch he really is as a kicker in the league.  Crosby currently sits at fifth on the all-time postseason scoring list with 137 points.  With current kickers Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski sitting well ahead of him at 234 points and 180 points respectively, he sits within comfortable reach of both Gary Anderson at fourth with 153 points and David Akers at 175 points.  On top of the all-time scoring list, Crosby holds the record for the most consecutive postseason field goals made when he hit 23 straight between 2010 and 2016. 

Entering the 2018 season at 33 years of age and having not missed a game in his NFL career, how long Crosby lasts as a kicker in this league rests solely on his shoulders.  Many kickers in the league have played and performed well past the age of 40.  Vinatieri is still booting balls at the ripe age of 45 where he sits second on the all-time NFL scoring list behind Morten Andersen.

If Crosby is motivated by the all-time NFL scoring records, the kickers near the top of that list played in the league between 15 – 25 years.  With his 1,345 points right now and 35th on the all-time list, Crosby sits well within reach of cracking the top 20 on the list in the next couple of years.  Last season’s total of 78 points was a rare anomaly and a career low for Crosby, where in years past he was ranging between 108 to a career-high 141 points each season.  Getting his name into the top ten on the list would probably require getting to around the 1,900 point mark as he has a few current kickers ahead of him on the list.  That mark would take around five or so solid years of performance to reach for Crosby.

With Crosby’s career motivations unknown for his future, Packers fans can rest easy knowing that the man donning the number two jersey on game days this coming season brings a fierce competitiveness and a solid history to a position that is often overlooked as being key to a team’s success.  After struggling his way through the 2012 season, we as fans can look back and be thankful that the coaching staff and GM stuck with Crosby as he worked through a period of adversity in his career.

Having signed a contract extension back in 2016 that keeps him with the team through the 2019 season, Crosby’s work in the local community made him want to stay in Green Bay and this fact has made him a local fan favorite.  But being the humble man that he is, Crosby doesn’t seek notoriety for his charitable work with the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation or the Wisconsin Make-A-Wish Foundation.  His huge heart and selflessness define who he is as a person and being the kicker for the Packers is just the extra icing on the cake.

Here’s to hoping that many more years of solid play are on the table for Mason Crosby as a Green Bay Packer.  He’s been an integral part of a winning formula for the franchise for many years and I’m optimistic that he will continue to be a part of that formula for more years to come.

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Ryan Brunner is an avid Packers fan hailing from Chippewa Falls, WI.  He is a firm believer that punters are NFL players too!  Follow him on Twitter @brunwardo

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Comments (7)

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zerotolerance's picture

July 13, 2018 at 01:39 pm

He’s also not afraid to make a tackle.

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Jonathan Spader's picture

July 13, 2018 at 01:58 pm

Only drawback to Crosby as a Packer is MM often uses him as the example of why you need to keep giving people chances. We brought a kicker to compete with Crosby and he showed his down season was just an off year. Last year he struggled because of place kickers. Wish we could have brought in Petrine to compete with Capers and see who won the job.

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Lare's picture

July 13, 2018 at 02:31 pm

I think Crosby was close to Masthay, and let the changes in holder and long snapper get into his head there for a year or two. He seems to have put all that behind him now and is pretty consistent overall.

It'll be interesting to see if the Packers stick with Crosby kicking off this season or if they'll go with Scott to help rest Crosby's leg for FG's.

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TXCHEESE's picture

July 13, 2018 at 03:36 pm

The only guy more clutch from 50+ is probably Justin Tucker. We're truly blessed to have a guy as consistent as Crosby and kicking in the elements the home field presents. He's handled all the snapper and holder changes as well as one could expect.

Given his abilities, I hope GB will take advantage and try some short mortar kicks with the new kickoff rules as they are.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

July 13, 2018 at 05:13 pm

I believe Crosby's 2018 cap number is the largest for a field goal kicker in the entire NFL. He is 4th in AAV. Crosby has been clutch in the postseason and boots a nice on-side kick. He isn't anywhere near the 4th best field goal kicker in the NFL, but he is a known quantity and good enough that I don't advocate trying to save a million by replacing him.

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Lare's picture

July 13, 2018 at 06:22 pm

Considering they have Ron Zook as a ST coach, it's probably a good idea that they stick with anything positive they can from the ST units.

Too bad McCarthy didn't include Zook when he was doing his coaching/coordinator housecleaning during the offseason.

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PatrickGB's picture

July 14, 2018 at 09:35 am

At one point I thought that he was below average in distance and above average in shorter kicks. I think that his kick has steadily improved over the years. And it’s cool to see a player with grey hair on the team!

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