On Wednesday afternoon, the Packers announced the release of Nigerian-born Kenneth Odumegwu, who was a part of the International Pathway Program.

The move allowed the team to designate kicker Alex Hale, who is from Australia, as their IPP player, a designation that comes with a roster exemption. The move allows the Packers to retain a young kicker on their roster without having him count against either the 53 man regular season roster or the 16 player practice squad, if he ends up being released and makes it through waivers.

A more cynical read of the move is that the team is acknowledging that they are not yet realizing the return on the investment they made by using a draft pick when selecting kicker Anders Carlson in the sixth round of the 2023 draft.

Odumegwu was allocated to the Green Bay Packers through the IPPP last May and played in his game of organized professional football last August in the preseason game against the Bengals, after which he was given a gameball by head coach Matt LaFleur. 

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CheeseheadTV wrote:

Good indicator that they are unlikely to be pleased with the Kicker position.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

Wow is this a shrewd move. Gute is at it again. There is no way Odumegwu would contribute in the next 2-3 seasons.

Originally Posted by: wpr 

Hopefully another team will sign him. For never playing football, he made huge strides in 15 months.
the only downsiide I see is, if Hale would be needed, he would have to be signed to the 53 man roster, which means he loses his exempt designation.
Hopefully this isn't a big deal.
Am I the only one who thinks The Packers 2024 kicker isn't currently on the roster?
{Kade York anyone?)
The Packers could cut both kickers, have that extra spot available for a 24 hour period, then sign their kicker.
Didn't The Packers do that with either a Punter or Long Snapper a couple of years ago? They had no LS after final cut down day was over, then made a move and picked one up after everyone cleared waivers.

Originally Posted by: buckeyepackfan 

Cade York didn't kick anywhere in 2023. And in 2022 he was 75%, which is much worse than Carlson was in 2023.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

Hopefully another team will sign him. For never playing football, he made huge strides in 15 months.
the only downsiide I see is, if Hale would be needed, he would have to be signed to the 53 man roster, which means he loses his exempt designation.
Hopefully this isn't a big deal.
Am I the only one who thinks The Packers 2024 kicker isn't currently on the roster?
{Kade York anyone?)
The Packers could cut both kickers, have that extra spot available for a 24 hour period, then sign their kicker.
Didn't The Packers do that with either a Punter or Long Snapper a couple of years ago? They had no LS after final cut down day was over, then made a move and picked one up after everyone cleared waivers.

Originally Posted by: buckeyepackfan 

He is kicking with The Browns, he hit the 55yd FG against The Packers week 1.
He was cut by The Browns after his rookie year, he started out well, but had problems later in the year.
The Browns ST coach did say York was kicking better this year than any tie before. He will be available, since The Browns have their starting kicker already.
That was the first player that came to mind, there are others out there.
I have no problem with Carleson, but it just seems The Packers are still not sold on him.

Originally Posted by: buckeyepackfan 

He is not good Wayne. He may get better, but so far we are not seeing it. Our head coach basically said he creates heart problems for him every time he goes out there. They brought in little competition with the veteran Viking dude, him posting pretty much the same level of consistentcy ovet 5 years as our rookie over one. I blame MLF
He defers too much to his assistants, especially our ST/assistant head coach..Rich has not proven anything as a member of the GBP trust. Not impressed with our o line mgmt either, but that is a different complaint.

In Rich I have no trust anymore

Originally Posted by: dfosterf