Brandon McManus was flat out not good for the Green Bay Packers last season. A quad injury clearly hampered his performance, but he got off to a rough start even before that became an issue. In the Wild Card Round against Chicago, his missed kicks arguably cost the Packers the game in a 31-27 loss.
Trotting out the same version of McManus next year would be a problem. Accordingly, The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman ranked the position ninth-most urgent to address this offseason. It’s a legitimate concern the Packers did not anticipate when they handed McManus a three-year, $15.3 million extension last March.
McManus was not the man for Green Bay last season
The good news: there’s only $3.3 million in guaranteed money remaining on that contract if the Packers decide to move on from him. Which is a realistic possibility.
Writes Scheidman, “The Packers should at least bring in competition for Brandon McManus this offseason, and that might come in the form of more than just Lucas Havrisik. McManus has been solid from manageable distances the last two regular seasons (when not injured, and maybe some of those early-season misses were on him more than the quad), but he’s been a playoff flop and those three missed kicks in Chicago will be hard to forget.”
In all, McManus botched two field goals and, most damningly, an extra point that forced the offense to go for the end zone inside the Bears 20-yard-line on Green Bay’s final drive. Down three, the Packers could have settled for a game-tying kick to send it to overtime. Had McManus converted a 44-yard field goal minutes earlier, they could have played for a chip shot to win.
It wasn’t just the playoffs. After missing a single kick during the 2024 regular season, the 34-year-old booter went 24-for-30 last season. Many of those misses came at decisive moments late in games. From 40 yards and longer, McManus went just 7-for-12.
Long story short, the Packers need an answer at kicker, whether that means finding a reason to believe in a McManus bounceback or looking elsewhere. Havrisik gave them a few good games but didn’t last (he later joined the practice squad.) Hopefully, as Schneidman suggests, employing a kicker they can trust will be a Packers priority in 2026.
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