Hey, Roomie: O’Donnell, Crosby Feeling at Home
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2018, Green Bay Packers draft picks JK Scott and Hunter Bradley lived in the same duplex. The rookie punter/holder and long snapper could meet in the shared yard and hone their craft.
In 2022, veteran punter Pat O’Donnell is living in kicker Mason Crosby’s basement.
“Shoutout to the Crosbys for hosting me,” O’Donnell, the team’s new punter, said in his introductory news conference on Wednesday, the third day of the team’s offseason program. “Building that relationship is really important. Doing anything off the field, whether that’s golfing or him coming down to Florida with me when I do a little bit of offseason training, I think that’s really important to build that chemistry as soon as we can.”
The 32-year-old O’Donnell was a sixth-round draft pick by the Bears in 2014 and spent his first eight NFL seasons in Chicago. For his career, he’s got a lofty average of 45.1 yards. While he’s not getting any younger, he averaged 45.7 yards in 2020 and 46.2 yards in 2021. In 2020, he tied for third in the NFL with 28 punts inside the 20. In 2021, he almost set a career high for punting average.
Having been on opposing sidelines twice a year for eight seasons, Crosby and O’Donnell knew of each other but didn’t know each other beyond pregame chats.
“But now we’re like best friends,” O’Donnell said.
Building that holder-kicker chemistry will be vital over the next several months. The Packers lost that last year, when general manager Brian Gutekunst dumped Scott and traded for Corey Bojorquez at the end of training camp. Crosby started hot but went off with the rails for a myriad of reasons. Bojorquez was inconsistent as a holder, there were season-long protection problems as well as a midseason change at snapper.
The bond between Crosby and O’Donnell is building quickly. They spent Easter together as well as Passover – their wives are Jewish. There are workouts in O’Donnell’s home base of Florida. Whenever spring arrives in Green Bay, there will be rounds of golf together.
“I take a lot of pride in holding, just like I do punting,” O’Donnell said. “That’s half of it for me. Being on the field holding for field goals, you’ve got to put points on the board. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of good kickers that I’ve worked with in the past.
“Having a veteran like Mason, I think we’re going to hit the ground running. I think it’s important for me to be the caddy. We kind of bounce ideas off each other with how the wind’s playing, how he likes the ball held and leaned, I think that’s really important. It kind of goes unnoticed but I think it’s really important to have that chemistry with your holder and me with the kicker.”
New special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia called O’Donnell a “wonderful” holder. When he was with the Raiders and O’Donnell was a free agent, Bisaccia was hoping to sign O’Donnell. Now, the two will work together in trying to resurrect Green Bay’s special teams as well as Crosby’s career after a dismal season.
“His job at holder is to make everybody right,” Bisaccia said. “He’s got to make the snapper right, he’s got to make the kicker right and so he’s done that for a long time. He’s been with good kickers and he’s been with good snappers, so I’m real excited about having him as part of our team.”
Bisaccia is an esteemed coordinator who really made his mark as the Raiders’ interim coach last season. In 2021, his units ranked a solid 11th in Rick Gosselin’s annual special tams rankings. The Raiders were 16th in 2020, 25th in 2019 and 19th in 2018.
His presence was a major reason why O’Donnell signed with the Packers rather than with a warm-weather team.
“Rich, I think he’s a great coach,” O’Donnell said. “He’s one of the most well-respected coaches in the league, has had a lot of success where he’s been. I’m really excited and fortunate to have him as a coach. He’s coached a lot of good punters. The last punter he had went to the Pro Bowl and had good success with him.”
