With the NFL Draft taking place in Green Bay, Wis., get ready to see a lot of cheeseheads and Packers.
The NFL is ensuring it.
The league called on former players to announce picks in the second and third rounds. Among the seven ex-Green Bay standouts who are scheduled to take the podium and deliver Packers selections is kicker Mason Crosby.
What Kind of Player Was Mason Crosby?
Green Bay took Crosby, who turns 41 in September, in the sixth round of the 2007 draft (No. 193 overall) after a standout career at the University of Colorado.
In four years with the Buffaloes, Crosby scored 326 points and made 71 field goals, the latter ranking third in Big 12 history. He led the Big 12 in field goals for three straight years — with 23 in 2004, 22 in 2005, and 19 in 2006.
At the time, Crosby was just the seventh place-kicker drafted by Green Bay and the first since Brett Conway, who the Packers picked in the third round in 1997. Conway never played for the Packers. Crosby was the first kicker drafted and to appear in a game for the team since Chris Jacke, who was taken in the sixth round of the 1989 draft.
Unlike Conway, Crosby made an immediate impact. In his first game, Crosby made a 42-yard field goal with two seconds left to beat Philadelphia 16-13 at Lambeau Field. He also nailed a 53-yarder — his first attempt as a pro — and one from 37 yards.
“Mason has ice water in his veins,” said punter/holder Jon Ryan afterward. “He was clutch today. He didn’t look like a rookie.”
In his rookie season, Crosby made 31 of 39 field-goal attempts, leading the NFL with 39 attempts, and hit all 48 of his extra-point tries.
Crosby led the league in extra points three times — 2008, 2011, and 2020 — and in Green Bay, where he spent 16 of his 17 NFL seasons, he made 97.2% of his extra-point attempts.
His 400 field goals rank 15th in NFL history, with 395 coming with the Packers. (He played three games for the New York Giants in 2023 and spent part of 2024 on their practice squad before retiring this past February.)
Crosby made 12 game-winning kicks — either at the end of the fourth quarter or in overtime. None were bigger than the ones he made in Dallas during the NFC Divisional playoff on Jan. 15, 2017.
Or should we say the one he made twice?
With 1:33 left and the score tied at 28, Crosby hit a 56-yard field goal. Dallas tied it with 35 seconds left on a Dan Bailey field goal, but Aaron Rodgers got the Packers quickly downfield after the kickoff. After a sideline catch by Jared Cook, Crosby came out for a 51-yard attempt — and nailed it.
But the Cowboys had called a timeout. Crosby had to do it again. No problem. He drilled it once more, and Green Bay pulled off the upset.
Crosby, the Packers’ kicker for their 2010 Super Bowl run, went 31-of-35 on playoff field-goal attempts and was perfect on all 70 extra-point tries in the postseason.
Safe to say, he’s the best kicker in Packers history. He has 169 more field goals than the next highest, Ryan Longwell, and his 78 makes from 50 yards or more are 56 more than Longwell’s.
Crosby is also the Packers’ all-time leading scorer with 1,918 points.
Safe to say, Crosby likely won’t be announcing the Packers selecting a kicker on Day 2. Green Bay can only hope it doesn’t have to give that player the boot — and that he comes close to having a career like Crosby’s.