The Green Bay Packers have made a decisive move at the kicker position, signaling that rookie sixth-round pick Trey Smack is their man for both the present and the future. On Friday, the team released veteran kicker Brandon McManus, a move that clears the path for Smack to take over the role immediately.
McManus, 34, signed a three-year, $15.3 million contract with the Packers in the 2025 offseason, but the team chose to part ways now rather than wait. By releasing him before June 1, Green Bay saves $945,097 in cap space—a smaller figure than the $2.611 million they could have saved by waiting, but a clear sign of their confidence in the rookie.
McManus initially brought stability to the Packers' kicking game in 2024, connecting on 20 of 21 field goals, including a perfect 3-for-3 from 50-plus yards. But his production slipped in 2025, as he made just 24 of 30 field goal attempts. The low point came in a 31-27 wild card loss to the Chicago Bears, where McManus left seven points on the field, missing both field goal attempts and one of four extra points in the four-point defeat.
Rather than let McManus compete with Smack in training camp, the Packers opted for a clean break. The team traded two seventh-round picks to the Seattle Seahawks in the 2026 NFL Draft to move up and select Smack at No. 216 overall. That conviction stems from Smack's impressive profile and the Packers' long search for stability at a position that Mason Crosby anchored for 16 seasons. Crosby, the franchise's all-time leading scorer with 1,918 points, set a high standard from 2007 to 2022, and the Packers have been searching for a long-term answer ever since.
Smack brings youth, upside, and a unique connection to Crosby himself. In three seasons at Florida, he drilled 10 field goals from 50-plus yards, including a remarkable 5-for-6 mark from that range in 2025. But the most intriguing link is to Crosby's own training roots. Both kickers trained with Matt Stover, a Pro Bowl and Super Bowl champion who played 19 NFL seasons from 1991 to 2009. Stover mentored Crosby during his adolescent years, and now he has done the same for Smack.
The connection came through Stover's son, Joe, who was a lacrosse and football teammate of Smack's at Severna Park High School in Maryland. After seeing Smack kick, Joe connected him with his father, and Stover helped Smack solidify his fundamentals. Now, the Packers are betting that those fundamentals, combined with Smack's raw talent, will finally solve their kicking puzzle.