Packers swap kickers via waivers

Packers swap kickers via waivers

The Green Bay Packers claimed placekicker James Turner via waivers on Thursday. This comes after the Packers missed out on UFL kicker Jake Bates — who signed with the Detroit Lions — and released Jack Podlesny. Interestingly enough, the Lions actually waived Turner when they officially added Bates to their offseason roster, making Turner available to Green Bay as a consolation prize after the Bates sweepstakes.

Turner spent the first four years of his college career at Louisville before transferring to Michigan in 2023, when he earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors and helped the Wolverines win the national championship. Despite going 103 of 105 on extra points and 38 of 45 on field goals over the last two seasons, Turner wasn’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine and signed as an undrafted free agent with the Lions in April.

Turner will now join a placekicking battle that already includes 2023 returning starter Anders Carlson and former Minnesota Vikings starter Greg Joseph — who was signed before the draft on a near-minimum contract. Because he’s going head-to-head with two veteran players, Turner’s battle to a roster spot will probably be uphill.

With that being said, it appears that Turner impressed in Lions camp before Detroit cleared the roads for the Bates addition. Per Jeff Risdon, who has attended practice on behalf of Lions Wire, the Michigan kicker “has a monster leg.” Risdon noted that Turner “merits a training camp look for some other team” when his release was announced.

The Packers currently have an open roster spot on their 91-man roster, even after the swap of Podlesny for Bates. For what it’s worth, this is the first set of transactions that Green Bay has made since the end of rookie minicamp shortly after the draft. The Packers have had an open roster spot since offensive lineman Trente Jones retired following rookie minicamp back in early May.