61-Yard Field Goal Helped Open Door for New Packers Kicker
GREEN BAY, Wis. – In more than 100 seasons of Green Bay Packers football, Mason Crosby’s 58-yard field goal in 2011 is the longest in franchise history.
Ramiz Ahmed, who the Packers signed on Sunday, made a USFL-record 61-yard field goal for the Pittsburgh Maulers in June.
“The drive before, we had a chance to kick a 64-yard field goal,” Ahmed said after Monday’s practice. “I was telling coach, ‘Let me hit it, let me hit it, let me hit it.’ But he was like, ‘Yeah, 64’s pretty far.’ So, we punted it and we pinned them deep, so it was a good decision. Most of the time when you’re going to punt it when it’s a 64-yard field goal, it’s a good decision but, as a kicker, you always want that chance.
“The next drive came around and it was 61. I was like, ‘Let me hit it, let me hit it, let me hit it.’ He was like, ‘You can hit it?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I can hit it. Let’s go.’”
The hold wasn’t good but Ahmed’s kick was perfect.
“It was a good moment,” he said.
It was a moment years in the making.
Ahmed was the starting kicker at Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School. As a senior in 2013, he helped the school win the Nevada state title.
“I was going to play at UNLV and decided not to kind of last second,” he said. “Hindsight 20/20, I wish I had played, obviously. Two years went by and I was like, ‘Dang, I really want to play football. I feel like there’s a lot of places I could play football and I’m definitely good enough.’”
Ahmed might not have been kicking for a team but he hadn’t stopped kicking.
“I was always training,” he said. “I was kind of a young, dumb kid. I was like, ‘Listen, I’m going to the NFL’ when I was 18 or 19 and not kicking for a college. ‘I’m still going to kick in the NFL.’ I bought NFL balls and had been training with NFL balls.”
While kicking one day, he ran into UNLV’s Jonathan Leiva, who was training for the school’s pro day. They started training together. When Ahmed told him he was moving to San Diego, Leiva suggested he connect with longtime NFL kicker John Carney, who had started Carney Coaching to work with promising kickers.
Carney’s advice was simple.
“John was like, ‘If you want to kick in the NFL, you should kick in college. You have two, three years left. You should go to college and kick.’ So, that’s what I did. The drive has always been there, but I suppose I misguided myself.”
Ahmed transferred to Arizona State for what he thought would be an opportunity. Instead, that chance evaporated.
“They were like, ‘Listen, our team’s full. There’s not much we can do right now. We’re too close to the season and we can’t really cut anybody. Plus, you’re a big question mark. We don’t really know anything about you.’” Ahmed recalled. “It was understandable.”
After a semester at ASU, he transferred to Nevada and wasted little time in introducing himself to the coaching staff. Oddly enough, the Wolfpack’s new staff was the same as the Sun Devils’ old staff.
“That was pretty wild,” Ahmed said.
Nevada, like many schools, holds an open tryout for students. Conducted just days before the start of the season, Ahmed did well enough to get a walk-on spot on the roster. He kicked off in 2017 before winning the outright kicking job as a senior in 2018. He made 15-of-20 field goals, including 15-of-16 from inside of 40 yards.
Ahmed went undrafted in 2019 and spent 2020 challenging Eddie Pineiro for the Bears’ kicking job. He had a couple workouts for teams in 2021 but never signed. In March 2022, he was drafted by the USFL’s Maulers. While he made only 14-of-22 field goals – kickers across the league struggled early in the season due to the oversized chip in the ball messing with its flight – that 61-yarder helped open doors for the Packers.
With Crosby sidelined by a knee injury and rookie Gabe Brkic making barely half his field-goal attempts during training camp, Ahmed worked out for the Packers last week. After Brkic injured a hamstring before Friday night’s game against the 49ers, Ahmed flew into Green Bay on Saturday and signed on Sunday. He made 5-of-6 field-goal attempts in his first practice.
Crosby, of course, will be the Packers’ kicker for this season. But they carried J.J. Molson on the practice squad all last season, and Crosby will be a free agent after this season. So, there’s a real opportunity.
“It’s a great experience,” he said. “I’m just taking it day by day and kick by kick, trying to soak it all in and get better. I only have two years of kicking field goals so I’m still young in this kicking career. But I’ve been training with John Carney for years. I’ve soaked up as much information as I could from him, so I feel very well-equipped to be able to go out on an NFL field and make kicks.”
