Packers’ Kicking ‘Competition’ With Trey Smack Takes Another Strange Twist

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, like all coaches around the NFL, uses local officials to help police the action on the practice field.

On Sunday, when Trey Smack lined up for his first field goals of training camp, two stood beneath the uprights, just as they would if they had been working a high school game on a Friday night.

After two chip-shot conversions, Smack’s boot from 39 yards sailed through the flag atop the left upright. The officials signaled the kick was no good.

Before the next kick, LaFleur walked toward the officials and engaged in a brief conversation before the drill continued. Smack kicked two more times; the officials didn’t signal on either.

On Monday at training camp, Smack attempted eight field goals – five during a field-goal period and three at the end of 2-minute drills – the officials weren’t under the goalposts at all.

What’s up with that?

“I just wanted to make you guys work for your money. You guys decipher,” LaFleur said.

Sure, but it’s impossible to determine if a kick is good or not when watching from the sideline, especially with the shorter kicks that soar over the net between the uprights.

That’s “by design,” LaFleur said.

“What’s the big deal, anyways?” he wondered.

The answer is obvious. The kicker is a hugely important part of the roster, as evidenced by Brandon McManus’ three misses in the playoffs that perhaps ended the Packers’ season last year.

The team, obviously, knows if Smack made the kicks or not, regardless of whether there’s an official to provide the signal. But what’s the big deal if the rest of us know?

“I know, but at the end of the day you’re talking about practice situations,” LaFleur said. “I think the real tests will come in those preseason games and then, obviously, into the regular season.”

Trey Smack’s Rocky Start

Smack’s training camp got off to a late start. With long snapper Matt Orzech opening camp on the physically unable to perform list, there were no field-goal drills during the first two practices. Veteran Cal Adomitis was signed before the third practice, but there wasn’t a field-goal period that day, either.

So, during the first three practices of camp, the most important rookie on the roster didn’t take a single live rep, though he did kick inside the Don Hutson Center off “sticks” – a gizmo that holds the ball so the kicker can kick without a snapper and holder.

He kicked the last two days, though, and made 8-of-13 attempts. Here’s the rundown.

The successful kicks: 28, 33, 33, 40 42, 43, 48, 51.

The missed kicks: 33, 39, 45, 52, 55.

On Monday, he went 3-of-5 during a field-goal period and then plunked the left upright from 52 yards at the end of Jordan Love’s 2-minute drill. Two more 2-minute drills ensued, and Smack rebounded to make both kicks, including a 51-yarder to end practice.

“I think that's what it's got to be,” LaFleur said. “For any young player or any player in general, there's going to be some trying times and you have to show the resiliency. That's one of the keys to being successful.”

Smack, who has remained calm through his early struggles, head-butted holder/punter Daniel Whelan as that final kick was hitting the middle of the net.

“It’s a good way to bounce back. So, it was good, he said.”

But, as he noted, that’s “kind of my job, so got to do my job.”

The overall results so far are about the same as during OTAs and minicamp. Smack’s talent is obvious. The consistency is a work in progress. He is an NFL talent; he – at this point – is not an NFL kicker.

“The ball's different. Hashes are closer. Would say uprights are a little taller,” Smack said on Monday. And then conditions are just different. I was all the way down in Florida. Now I'm all the way to the top of America in Wisconsin. So, it’s a little different.”

It will be different, obviously, as the season progresses, but it’s not as if the famed tundra is frozen when it’s about 80 degrees in training camp. The wind was blustery on Sunday but it’s not as if there isn’t wind in Florida. Conditions were perfect on Monday.

He’s been challenged by the changes in the battery. After working with Orzech throughout the offseason practices, everyone went their separate ways for the break between OTAs and training camp. With Orzech sidelined, the group has had to adjust to Adomitis, who is a proven veteran but a different link in the kicking chain.

Going Solo

When the Packers traded up to select Smack in the sixth round in April, veterans Brandon McManus and Lucas Havrisik were on the roster. At the time, general manager Brian Gutekunst left the door open for a three-man kicking competition.

Instead, he released McManus a couple weeks later. With camp about to start, the Packers worked out and signed German-born kicker Lenny Krieg and released Havrisik, who kicked a franchise-record 61-yard field goal at Arizona last season.

So, rather than having Smack battle two veterans, he was set to face a kicker who didn’t play college football and attempted two field goals last preseason.

Even that competition went by the wayside. In order to get Smack started with a snapper, they released Krieg and signed Adomitis. So, with no shots being fired, the on-the-field kicking competition was over.

Of course, the Packers could bring back Krieg at any point or sign another kicker. That is the pressure. It’s Smack vs. every unemployed kicker in the NFL.

“I think he’s got plenty of pressure on him just on a day to day,” LaFleur said. “I mean, that’s why we’re talking about this for so long, right? Because there’s a lot of interest and there’s going to be pressure no matter what position you play in this league. That’s just the nature of our league, but I’m confident that he will work his way through it.”

Meanwhile, other than Instagram, Smack has deleted his social media so he can focus on his kicks and not the public reaction to his kicks.

“I just kind of go about like one day at a time, not really worry about (what) anybody else thinks,” he said. “It’s just kind of my job, you know? That’s what I signed up for.”

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