The Green Bay Packers made a decent amount of noise this offseason. Between locking up Aaron Banks, investing in Nate Hobbs, and taking Matthew Golden in the first round, there’s been no shortage of storylines to follow. But buried under all the bigger moves is a decision that only gets noticed when things go wrong: the kicker.
Brandon McManus is back in Green Bay on a three-year deal worth $15.3 million. It’s a hefty jump from the veteran minimum he signed for midseason last year, but after what the Packers dealt with post-Mason Crosby, it’s money well spent.
While flashier moves grabbed more attention, bringing back McManus was about avoiding another problem spot before it became one. For a team with Super Bowl aspirations, that kind of foresight is important. Last season proved it.
Kicking stability returns as Packers bring back Brandon McManus
The past two years exposed a critical flaw in the Packers’ build: there was no plan for life after Mason Crosby. Drafting Anders Carlson felt like a reasonable swing, but the inconsistency was too costly—especially when it mattered most.
Then when Brayden Narveson missed five kicks in the first six weeks, the kicker carousel became impossible to ignore.
Enter McManus. He arrived midseason and immediately cleaned up the mess. He went 20-of-21 on field goals and knocked through all 30 of his extra points. His 95.2% conversion rate ranked second in the league and gave the Packers a level of reliability they hadn’t felt in years. The decision to bring him back was as obvious as it was necessary.
The contract is structured brilliantly. While the $5 million signing bonus is substantial, Green Bay protected itself with minimal guarantees beyond that. McManus instantly gets rewarded, the team gains stability at a critical (and overlooked) spot, and there’s future flexibility built in. Those are wins across the board.
Teams with playoff hopes can’t afford to just leave points on the field. That makes a reliable kicker less of a luxury and more of a necessity. The Packers aren’t counting on McManus to be perfect. They just need him to be reliable when the time comes—something that’s been missing since Crosby left.
With the bigger headlines reserved for flashier names and positions, this one’s flying under the radar. But Packers fans who lived through the rollercoaster of the past two years know better. This is the kind of move that quietly wins games and maybe more.