Packers release veteran kicker Brandon McManus, AP source says

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Veteran kicker Brandon McManus was released by the Green Bay Packers two weeks after they drafted his potential replacement, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Friday.

The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the move hadn’t been announced. ESPN first reported that McManus had been released.

Green Bay became the only team to draft a kicker last month when it took Florida’s Trey Smack in the sixth round. The Packers traded away two seventh-round picks to get Smack with the 216th selection.

McManus, 34, went 44 of 51 on field-goal attempts and was 6 of 8 from at least 50 yards out during the regular season in his two years with the Packers. He missed two field goals and an extra-point attempt in Green Bay’s 31-27 NFC wild-card playoff loss at Chicago.

He has made 82% of his field-goal attempts during a 12-year career that also included stints with the Denver Broncos (2014-22) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2023).

The Packers signed McManus in October 2024 to replace struggling rookie Brayden Narveson. Now they’re potentially going to count on another rookie to take over for McManus, though kicker Lucas Havrisik also is on Green Bay's roster.

McManus’ Green Bay tenure couldn’t have started any better. He delivered game-winning field goals as time expired in each of his first two games with the Packers, making a 45-yarder to beat the Houston Texans 24-22 and a 24-yarder to end a 30-27 victory at Jacksonville.

He went 20 of 21 on field-goal attempts and 30 of 30 on extra points during the 2024 regular season. McManus missed a 38-yard field goal and made a 26-yarder in a 22-10 wild-card playoff loss at Philadelphia.

His 2024 performance earned McManus a three-year, $15.3 million contract, but he wasn’t quite as consistent last year. He was 24 of 30 on field goals — going just 6 of 12 from at least 40 yards out — and went 32 of 33 on extra points.

He was 7 of 9 on field goals in Green Bay’s first four contests before missing two games with a quadriceps injury. Havrisik filled in for him those two games and went 4 of 4 on field-goal attempts, including a franchise-record 61-yarder.

McManus returned to action but went just 4 of 8 on field-goal attempts over three games before sitting out one more game with a quadriceps issue. He then returned and made all 13 of his field-goal attempts in Green Bay’s final seven regular-season games.

But his inaccuracy in the playoffs proved costly as Green Bay blew a 21-3 halftime lead.

He had a 55-yard field-goal attempt go wide left on the final play of the first half. After Green Bay scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 27-16, McManus’ extra-point attempt also went wide left. Green Bay’s lead had shrunk to 27-24 when McManus sent a 44-yard try wide right with 2:51 remaining.

McManus said after the game it was the biggest disappointment of his career and called it an “embarrassing performance.”

“My role on the team is to make kicks and these guys pour in thousands of plays over the course of the season and I leave seven points on the board today,” McManus said.

Smack made 82.8% of his field-goal attempts during his college career and went 10 of 13 from at least 50 yards. Although Smack played collegiately at Florida, he’s from Maryland and has experience kicking in cold weather.

“It’s how I started out kicking, is kicking in cold weather,” Smack said after he was drafted.

Havrisik was only 7 of 9 on extra-point attempts in the three games he played for Green Bay last season. He also played for the Los Angeles Rams in 2023 and is 19 of 24 on field-goal attempts — including 6 of 11 from at least 40 yards out — in 12 career games.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl