With Experience, Accuracy, Brandon McManus ‘Breath of Fresh Air’

After enduring the struggles of rookie kickers in 2023 and the start of 2024, Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said “What’s not to like?” about adding veteran Brandon McManus.

New Packers kicker Brandon McManus makes a field goal while with the Jaguars last year. / Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – To stay ready for an opportunity he wasn’t quite sure he’d ever get, new Green Bay Packers kicker Brandon McManus had to get creative.

“There’s three different places I kicked at,” McManus said. “One of them, I was just kicking at a light post.”

At times, the only spectators were his 5-year-old twins and 4-year-old son.

On Sunday, there will be 78,000 sets of eyeballs on McManus as he makes his Packers debut against the Houston Texans.

“They’re not as hard a critics as everyone else,” McManus said.

In 2023, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia was handed a sixth-round draft pick, Anders Carlson. In 2024, he was given another rookie, Brayden Narveson, at the end of training camp.

The 33-year-old is in his 11th NFL season. He ranks seventh among active kickers in field goals and points.

“It’s been, to some degree, a breath of fresh air,” Bisaccia said after Thursday’s practice.

That’s because McManus has been there and done that. As an undrafted rookie, he was released by the Colts at the end of camp in 2013. At the end of camp in 2014, he was traded to the Broncos. Midway through that season, he was released.

From there, he won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos in 2015 and made a 61-year-old field goal in 2021.

“What’s not to like?” Bisaccia said. “He’s a got a lot of skins on the wall. He’s been in a lot of pressure situations. He’s had kicks in the Super Bowl. He’s played in cold weather, he’s played in hot weather.

“So, he’s had a lot of experiences kicking in a lot of different climates at a lot of different places, and he’s been successful for a long time. So, we’re glad we got him right now.”

For obvious reason. Carlson fell into a miss-a-game rut that he couldn’t shake. Narveson was second-to-last in field-goal percentage when he was released.

With career accuracy of 81.4 percent, McManus’ career numbers are no better than Carlson’s from 2023.

“Did you look up the percentage from 50 and in?” Bisaccia asked.

With 208 makes in 229 attempts, it’s 90.8 percent.

“Pretty good,” Bisaccias said.

In 2023, Carlson was 4-of-8 from 40 to 49 yards. In 2024, Narveson was 5-of-9 from that distance. That’s four misses apiece; as many as McManus the previous six seasons. Their eight combined misses from that distance in 23 games is as many as McManus in 130 games the past eight seasons.

“The kicks that have to be made in the National Football League are inside the 50,” Bisaccia said. “Obviously, we've had our issues with that. Hopefully, he can continue to play as well as his stats say.”

McManus has the big leg, though. He made a 61-yarder before halftime against the Chargers in 2021; he made a 73-yarder at practice in 2017.

Does he still have the power required to hit one from deep to win a game or blast the ball through the December wind and cold?

“He does,” Bisaccia said. “I don’t think he has a problem with the leg. He warmed up pretty good before the workout and had a really good workout. It was indoors but he endured the wind we had yesterday, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings but I still think he has plenty of leg.”

With the NFL finding insufficient evidence to discipline McManus for an alleged incident with the Jaguars last season, the Packers brought him in for a workout on Tuesday. He kicked for the Packers at the workout and again at Wednesday’s practice. He’ll kick again on Friday and play against the Texans on Sunday.

With that, the Packers hope they’ve finally solidified a position that had been manned for 16 mostly worry-free seasons by Mason Crosby.

“The three years here has been a little unique for me at that position,” Bisaccia said. “I can remember my first year in Tampa, we went through three snappers and all the way to the Super Bowl. Three different snappers – I had never been through that in college.

“And now, going through the kicker rotation here, trying to get some younger guys and trying to get someone developed and put us in a position to have one for a long time. But now we're exactly where we are, and we'll deal with where we are at at this particular time and see what we do going forward. But this has been unique, not only to me but for the organization, obviously having a kicker here for a long time.”

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