Let the Trey Smack era begin.
The writing was on the wall for veteran kicker Brandon McManus after the Green Bay Packers traded up for Smack in the sixth round of last month's draft, but nobody expected it to end so soon.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Packers are releasing McManus just 13 days after their trade-up for Smack. There will be no training camp competition, no seeing how it goes. McManus is gone.
Packers show their belief in Trey Smack by releasing Brandon McManus earlier than expected
The Packers clearly believe in Smack. It's always a gamble to go with an unproven rookie over a veteran like McManus, but they have good reason.
McManus struggled last year, particularly from long range, missing six of 12 kicks from beyond 40 yards. He battled injuries, which played a part in it, but the veteran saved his worst performance for last. McManus missed both of his field goals and an extra point in the Packers' playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, and it has proved to be the final straw.
He finished dead last in FanSided's Kicker Value Added (KVA) rankings for 2025, and his playoff disaster was the second-worst kicking game (-5.3696 KVA) of the entire NFL season.
In Smack, the Packers are getting a kicker who is highly confident from distance (the clue is in his name). He hit eight of 10 field goals from 40 or more yards last season, including going four-of-five from 50-plus yards.
While Packers fans understandably have concerns after the failed Anders Carlson experiment, franchise legend Mason Crosby sees a difference between the two.
"Everyone's going to compare this draft to the Anders Carlson one, but this kid's productivity speaks for itself," Crosby said, via the Wisconsin Sports Radio Network. "He had a really good career there at Florida. Hits a great ball. When I watch him, he has all the skill set to go and get the job done. Carlson kinda had that weird--he was a little more straight-on vertical, a lot of movement with his ball. Smack doesn't look to have any of that."
That's the hope. The Packers still have Lucas Havrisik on the roster, who booted a franchise-record 61-yard field goal last season. So maybe the competition isn't fully over?
Nah, it is. The Packers traded up for Smack, and they believe in him so much that they released a 12-year NFL veteran before OTAs started.
It tells us exactly what they think about Smack.
Add us as a preferred source on Google