In the wake of Green Bay’s decision to select Trey Smack late in the draft, a kicker competition between he and veteran Brandon McManus seemed to be in store. That will not be the case, however.
The Packers are releasing McManus, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This move certainly increases the chances of Smack winning the kicker job during training camp. Green Bay does still have Lucas Havrisik in the fold at this time as well, though.
McManus missed only one kick during 11 games with Green Bay in 2024. That strong showing landed him a three-year, $15.3MM deal last offseason. McManus enjoyed another strong showing during the regular season last year, but his outing in the wild-card round left plenty to be desired. Two missed field goals and one wayward extra point attempt loomed large in a four-point Packers loss to the Bears.
That performance led to questions about Green Bay potentially making a change at the position. With Smack now in the fold, the team will indeed move on. Today’s release comes well after McManus had already been paid a $1MM roster bonus. The other guaranteed money remaining on his deal means this cut will produce a dead money charge of $4.33MM and just $945K in cap savings.
McManus served as the Broncos’ kicker from 2014-22. His Denver release resulted in a free agent deal with the Jaguars, but he only wound up spending one year with Jacksonville. An agreement with the Commanders was reached in 2025, but allegations of sexual assault dating back to his Jags tenure resulted in Washington moving on. McManus was not suspended, and he managed to find a new home in Green Bay. Now, though, the 34-year-old will find himself on the move once again.
Most teams have an established kicker in place or at least multiple options this late in the offseason. That could result in a lengthy spell on the open market for McManus. In any case, he will aim to parlay his experience into a new opportunity no later than the start of training camp this summer.
This was likely after they drafted Smack, but even more inevitable after they signed Tyrod Taylor. Gutenkunst wasn’t going to add a player over 30 to his roster without subtracting one.
Give me a chance to talk some smack about the Packers K anyway. Always fun.
weird timing considering they already paid McManus the $1 million roster bonus. could have easily kept him around to compete during training camp. only thing I can think of is that they’re confident in Smack and don’t want the pressure of a competition during camp. now he can just go out and focus on his job without all of the drama and media surrounding a kicker competition.
I don’t like it. Not gonna lie. Their plan is an unproven rookie or bust at this point. It made all the sense in the world to let McManus and smack fight it out in camp. The make the call before cut downs. No cost to doing that. Unless McManus was going to be a lil biiiish
ya who knows maybe McManus is already being a lil biiish about it…in which case, bye. but ya not sure i love this either. would have rather just let them compete in camp since you already paid the guy $1 million.
I see you are committed to your current level of understanding as usual. You might want to check the actual roster before you declare the plan is “an unproven rookie or bust at this point.” In particular look under “H” for Havrisk.
I can explain it to you but I can’t understand it for you.
Yeah, I guess they could have said an unproven rookie or an unproven veteran with 12 games of experience and 4 games in the last 2 years that’s hit less than 85% of extra points. But it just seems so much to type
you make some of the most cringe, douchiest comments on this entire site.
If you can’t handle the criticism, keep your nonsensical opinions to yourself.
oh the irony in this comment…
It would’ve been less than ideal to have 3 kickers on the preseason roster. So either McManus or Haversik had to go, cutting McManus early gives him a better chance of finding another team.
Pressure and competition is what kickers should be put under. It’s the nature of their job. Why wouldn’t you want them under any pressure?
I literally said it in my comment.
Pressure, especially handled competently by a kicker is essential….if the Packers indeed wanted to take the pressure off their draftee by releasing McManus is a bit strange given the pressure of missed kicks during games especially during playoff games…..
Two excellent seasons kicking and McManus gets dumped on his rear end due to one game. I know it’s popular to bag on kickers but good grief do they ever have a high stress job.
It was a lot more than a single game.
Kickers can only fail. They don’t get credit for making FGs. Ask any Vikings fan. Blair Walsh, Gary Anderson, Cody Parkey with the double doink, and the infamous Scott Norwood.
Ah man! How could you forget Garo Yepremian trying his best to help the Redskins win SB VII 🙂
Seriously, he only had one job…to kick field goals.
So now it’s gonna be down to Smack & Havyernamespeldrong.