Trading up to draft kicker Trey Smack in the sixth round was a bold move from the Green Bay Packers. It's not that they didn't need insurance at the position. With how Brandon McManus struggled last season, they clearly did. But burning draft selections on kickers is, in practice, nearly extinct. Smack was the only one to hear his name called this year.
Not only did the Green and Gold buck the trend, they doubled down on the investment by releasing McManus early last month. That left Smack and Lucas Havrisik as the only placekickers on the roster, with Smack in the lead to win the starting job.
For so many reasons, the Packers have a lot riding on his rookie season. They needed to upgrade from McManus after missed kicks cost them multiple games last year, including in the playoffs. They're asking Smack to be the upgrade, and if he can't, it's back to Havrisik and free agents off the streets.
Packers have dumped a ton of pressure on Trey Smack's plate
Talk about pressure. Even three months out from Week 1, Smack is under plenty of it. Those daily practice reports mean more than they should, at least to fans anxiously wondering whether a rookie kicker is ready to hold down the fort. How many did he make? Which did he miss? From how far? What was his longest?
In Thursday's minicamp session, Smack missed a 35-yarder during a two-minute drill. That means basically nothing right now, but Packers fans are too recently traumatized not to feel a jolt of displeasure. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it felt irrationally reassuring when Smack drilled a 58-yarder on Wednesday.
Yikes! At the end of the 2-minute drill, Trey Smack missed a 35-yard FG wide left after LaFleur decided to kick on fourth-and-1 from the 17 with 20 seconds left in a 27-24 game.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) June 11, 2026
LaFleur then had Smack kick a 50-yard FG and that was good.
It's not even mid-June. We're talking about a two-minute drill in minicamp. But, yeah, the stakes already feel high because, in the bigger picture, they are.
By college standards, Smack was nearly lights-out at Florida. He finished his three-year career having made 82.8 percent of his field goal tries, including 75 percent from 40-plus yards and 76.9 percent from 50-plus. As a senior, Smack banged one in from 56.
His leg will only get stronger during training camp, with access to NFL resources and training. There's a reason the Packers were so high on him in the draft. Still, releasing McManus felt like a bold move, despite all his woes, with an unproven rookie being the one to replace him.
Green Bay believes it has the roster to compete for a Super Bowl this season, granted halfway decent health. As was put on full display last season, injuries and poor special teams play can dash lofty aspirations in a hurry. If Smack struggles, the Packers are unlikely to be any better off in the kicking department, and probably worse.
Let's hope this works, because it has to.
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