Packers Cut Brandon McManus, Waste $1 Million, Add to Mountain of Dead Cap

In what was simultaneously a $1 million surprise and no surprise at all, the Green Bay Packers released kicker Brandon McManus on Friday.

The news, first reported by ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, helps clear the path for rookie Trey Smack to be the team’s kicker in 2026.

What had been a three-man kicking competition is down to two, with Lucas Havrisik on the roster to challenge Smack.

“It’s you versus you,” Smack said at the rookie camp about the specter of a three-man kicking duel. “I don’t really pay attention to anybody else but myself because I’m the one that’s got to put it through the uprights.”

Financial Implications Are Real

Coming off an injury-plagued season and an abysmal playoff performance at Chicago, the Packers elected to pay McManus his $1 million roster bonus at the start of the league-year.

That wound up being a $1 million insurance policy in case the Packers didn’t make a big addition at the position. That addition was Smack. Green Bay traded its two seventh-round picks to move into the sixth round to select Smack, making him the only kicker drafted this year.

There will be cost savings, despite what wound up being a million-dollar parting gift. McManus was due a $2.1 million base salary along with $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses for the upcoming season. According to OverTheCap.com, the Packers will save about $945,000 against the cap. (If they made it a June 1 designation, the savings would be about $2.61 million.)

“Obviously, Green Bay felt that Trey is someone that could come in and help their football team,” Jamie Kohl, who worked with Smack at his renowned Kohl’s Kicking Camps, told Packers On SI. “I mean, you don’t draft a kicker unless you feel that he can, at the very minimum, help their football team. I know McManus is a very, very talented player who did extremely well two years ago. So, obviously, I think Green Bay has two NFL kickers.”

While the Packers have a bit more cap space, they will absorb $4.33 million in dead cap. Green Bay’s salary cap is weighed down by $47.6 million in dead cap money. That’s the 10th-most salary-cap dollars dedicated to players no longer on the roster.

McManus’ money is not insignificant but it pales by comparison to the $17 million-plus for Rashan Gary and Kenny Clark.

From Three to Two at Kicker

After the draft, general manager Brian Gutekunst left the door open for having a three-man kicking competition. During the heat of the offseason and training camp, there would have been plenty of reps available for new special teams coordinator Cam Achord to make it happen.

“We can do that,” Gutekunst said. “We’ll see how it goes but, yeah, we absolutely can. There’s nothing stressing our roster right now that would make us have to do anything right now. Even through training camp, I don’t think when we’re at 90, unless we have more injuries than I want to have, I think we’d be fine to do that. But we’ll walk that through as we go.”

Releasing McManus now will allow the veteran to latch on elsewhere.

So, beginning with OTAs later this month through training camp in July and August, it will be Smack against Havrisik.

In three games, Havrisik made all four field goals – including a franchise-record 61-yarder before halftime to spark the win at Arizona – and 7-of-9 extra points. The missed point-after attempts came in a wind storm against the Giants.

pic.twitter.com/Gl1Vv17Fdu
— Brandon McManus (@thekidmcmanus) May 8, 2026

Brandon McManus’ Success, Failures

McManus was the kicking savior in 2024. After the team swung and missed on sixth-round pick Anders Carlson in 2023 – he was one of the worst kickers in the league as a rookie – they went into 2024 with Brayden Narveson. He struggled from the get-go, though, which necessitated the addition of McManus. In 11 games, he made 95.2 percent of his field goals – the second-best mark in the NFL – and all of his extra points.

Last year, though, he made 80.0 percent of his field-goal attempts, which was fifth-worst among kickers with at least 20 field-goal attempts. Once he was past a midseason injury, though, he was as hot as any kicker in the league headed into the postseason. After sitting out the Giants game, he made all 13 field-goal attempts – including a 53-yarder at Denver – and all 16 extra-point tries.

That set the stage for the playoff game against Chicago. In a four-point loss, he missed two field goals and one extra point.

“Competition,” coach Matt LaFleur said of drafting Smack. “Obviously, Trey was the highest-rated kicker we had on our board. Got to give our scouting department a ton of props, a ton of credit, man. They really worked hard. I thought they did an outstanding job. Obviously, it’s a position that’s important when you’re talking about scoring points in this league and just like any other position, you can never have enough competition.”

Smack made better than 80 percent of his field-goal attempts in all three seasons in college. He finished with a school-record 10 kicks of 50-plus yards, going 10-of-13 from long distance in his career. The college extra point is 20 yards compared to 33 in the NFL, but he was 100-of-101.

The frozen elephant in the room, though, is how the Florida kicker will fare in the Green Bay cold.

“I wouldn’t say as much as the cold as it is more affecting with the wind,” he said. “You know, I think the cold does have an effect on the ball. It’s not going to make it any straighter; it’s just going to take a few yards off the distance. So, yeah, the cold does make a factor, but it’s mainly about wind.”

Exclusive Trey Smack Stories

Call it the frozen elephant in the room. Trey Smack starred at Florida but can he kick in December at Lambeau Field?

Matt Stover knows a little something about the topic. ⬇️https://t.co/mbQNRseFhr
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) May 7, 2026

“I said, ‘Hey, Libby (Trey Smack’s mom), come here, come here, come here. He’s done with lacrosse. He’s got a pro leg.’ And that’s no joke. I said that. I knew right away that he had talent.” ⬇️https://t.co/CMvmoov3Ji
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) May 6, 2026

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