The Green Bay Packers’ expected kicker competition appears to have ended before it started after the team released veteran Brandon McManus on Friday, a league source confirmed.
The Packers traded up in last month’s draft to take Florida kicker Trey Smack, sending both of their seventh-round picks (Nos. 236 and 255) to the Seattle Seahawks and selecting Smack with the final pick of the sixth round (No. 216).
General manager Brian Gutekunst said in February that he wanted a kicker competition and then backed it up by drafting Smack. He was adamant that the desire for more competition in the room had nothing to do with McManus’ struggles through injury last season and in Green Bay’s playoff loss.
“He made 32 straight kicks up until that game,” Gutekunst said at the combine. “He worked through an injury thing early in the year, which I commend him for fighting through because it was a little bit more than probably he let on, and once he got through it, he was really, really good until that final game. So he’s a pro’s pro. One thing that I’ve always felt good about is he knows how to kick in weather, so certainly didn’t see that game in Chicago, for him not to perform like he normally does, but yeah, we’ll have competition at that spot. But not because of anything that happened this past year, just I think you always want competition at that spot.”
The Packers signed McManus in Week 7 of the 2024 season after an experiment with undrafted rookie Brayden Narveson failed (he had replaced 2023 sixth-round pick Anders Carlson and veteran Greg Joseph). McManus provided stability to the Packers’ post-Mason Crosby musical chairs at kicker, hitting 20 of 21 field goals for the rest of the 2024 regular season (3-of-3 from 50-plus and 3-of-4 from 40-49 with his lone miss coming from 46 yards in the rain at Lambeau Field against the Detroit Lions).
McManus struggled while kicking through a right quad injury last season but found consistency once healthy, finishing the year 24-of-30 on field goals but with 13 consecutive makes to end the regular season (only 1-of-1 from 50-plus during that stretch). However, McManus has faltered in Green Bay’s biggest moments, missing a 38-yard field goal against the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024 wild-card round and missing two field goals (44 and 55 yards) and an extra point during January’s wild-card collapse against the Chicago Bears in a 31-27 defeat.
The Packers signed McManus to a three-year, $15.3 million extension before the 2025 season with $5 million guaranteed and a $1 million roster bonus paid earlier this offseason, according to Over The Cap.
Trey Smack was the only kicker selected in this year’s draft. (Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images)
Smack made 82.8 percent of his field-goal tries over three years for the Gators (53-of-64). He also hit 10 of 13 from 50-plus yards in his career, and last season he went 18-of-22 with a 5-for-6 clip each from 40-49 yards and 50-plus yards (he missed two from 30-39).
“Straight ball, accuracy. His ball doesn’t move a lot,” new special teams coordinator Cam Achord said of Smack’s appeal. “For me, I don’t need a guy — and I’ve been blessed to coach a lot of guys that are really good — I don’t need a guy that can kick 65 yards, personally. I want the guy who’s gonna put it through consistently from 58, 55, ’cause again, we’re playing in Green Bay. Whether I was coaching in New England, coaching in MetLife, we’re gonna play in elements and you’re not gonna need the 60-yard ball all the time. You’re gonna need the 45-yard ball with a 14-mile-an-hour crosswind, so his ball not moving and stuff like that was definitely a big part for me.”
In addition to Smack, Lucas Havrisik is still on the roster. Havrisik was on the verge of becoming a substitute teacher last year when McManus went down and the Packers called on him. Over three games, he made all four field-goal attempts, including a franchise-record 61-yarder in Arizona. He missed two extra points in nine tries, however, but those came in gnarly winds at MetLife Stadium.