The Green Bay Packers replaced future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers rather seamlessly with current starter Jordan Love, but they have had a harder time replacing the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, kicker Mason Crosby.
That’s why Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst signed free agent kicker Brandon McManus after a workout on Tuesday, according to ESPN. He will reportedly immediately become the Packers kicker, starting with their Week 7 home game against the 5-1 Houston Texans. The 2024 season will be the 33-year-old McManus’ 11th NFL season after nine with the Denver Broncos to start his career from 2014-2022 and last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was the kicker for the Broncos Super Bowl 50 championship team in the 2015 season. His 253 made field goals ranks as the fourth-most in the NFL from 2014-2023, trailing only Ravens kicker Justin Tucker (327), Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein (280) and Cardinals kicker Matt Prater (259) in the span of his career.
The Washington Commanders signed him to a one-year deal in March this offseason, but they cut him in June after he was the subject of a lawsuit that alleged sexual assault in May. McManus will be eligible to play for the Packers immediately after a league investigation found insufficient evidence to support a violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
Love threw for 32 touchdowns in his first full season as the Packers starting quarterback in 2023, the second-most in the NFL last season behind only Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s 36. His 12 passing touchdowns in four games this season are tied for the second-most in the NFL with Joe Burrow, trailing only Baker Mayfield’s 15 for the league lead. Love set Packers postseason single-game records for passer rating (157.2) and passing yards per attempt (13.0) in Green Bay’s 48-32 demolition of Dallas in the 2023 NFC Wild Card Round. Then, the Packers fell short in the NFC Divisional Round at the eventual NFC champion San Francisco 49ers by three points, 24-21, after Crosby’s initial successor Anders Carlson, a 2023 sixth-round pick, missed a 41-yard field goal with 6:21 left in the game.
The Packers cut Carlson loose after training camp in August following a rookie year in which he made 27 of his 33 regular season field goals, an 81.8% field goal percentage that ranked as the 10th-lowest among 33 kickers who attempted at least 10 field goals last season. Green Bay claimed former Tennessee Titans kicker Brayden Narveson off of waivers following the preseason, and the undrafted free agent’s 70.6% field goal percentage (12-17) this regular season ranked as the second-lowest in the NFL through six weeks, ahead of only Zeurlein’s 66.7% figure (8-12).
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Author: Garrett Podell
October 15, 2024 | 7:50 pm
