With two choices in the 6th round, the Packers added more explosive bulk on the defensive line and even more significantly, likely brought the outstanding career of Mason Crosby to a close. The second pick of the round had Green Bay take placekicker Anders Carlson of Auburn with the 207th overall choice. Carlson is the younger brother of Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson. He’s the second leading scorer all time at Auburn, putting up 410 points in his career. The Colorado Springs native is 6-5 and 215 and he connected on 79 of his 110 field goal attempts in the SEC. Carlson tore his ACL in 2021, missing the final three games of that season and suffered a cracked shoulder last fall.
Auburn Kicker Anders Carlson
Carlson, already married, will turn 25 after earning a degree aviation management degree with a masters in business administration at Auburn. He’s the first kicker drafted by the Packers since Crosby was taken in the 6th round out of Colorado in 2007. Mason never missed a game in his career, a franchise record 258 straight and he re-wrote the Green Bay scoring and kicker record book. If indeed this is the end for Crosby, he’ll finish his career with 1918 points, far surpassing Ryan Longwell’s 1054 for the most in team history. He also holds the records for most field goals (395) and extra points (733). Those facts and numbers were not lost on Anders (pronounced On-ders) when he met with reporters after getting picked by the Pack.
The first of two 6th rounders was Bowling Green defensive tackle Karl Brooks.
Bowling Green DT Karl Brooks
Brooks is a big man at 6-4 and 300 pounds who dominated for the Falcons in a career that spanned five full seasons. The Lansing, Michigan native played 52 years at Bowling Green and amassed a team leading 10 sacks and 18 tackles for loss last season.
Packers Director of Football Operations Milt Hendrickson said while Brooks didn’t hail from a power program, he plays power football.
Pro Football Focus had Brooks as the highest rated edge defender in all of college football last season. He joins 4th round pick Colby Wooden from Auburn and top choice Lukas Van Ness of Iowa in the front seven rotation of the Packers defense.
