The Green Bay Packers are moving closer to possibly finding a replacement for kicker Brayden Narveson.
Since joining the team at the start of the season, Narveson has had a tough time, missing a league-high five field goals in the first six games. Head coach Matt LaFleur mentioned, “We’ll see,” when asked about Narveson’s future, and said they would take things “day by day.”
The Packers are exploring their options. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, they have brought in free agent Brandon McManus for a workout.
The NFL recently finished an investigation into McManus after he was accused of sexually assaulting two women during the Jacksonville Jaguars’ trip to London last season.
Brian McCarthy, a league spokesperson, said, “There was insufficient evidence to support a finding that a violation of the personal conduct policy occurred. As always, if new evidence is presented it would be taken into consideration,” according to ESPN.
McManus has not played in the NFL since the allegations. In June, the Washington Commanders let him go less than three months after signing him to a one-year contract.
Brandon McManus is one of the few experienced kickers available for the Packers in free agency. Unlike Narveson, McManus brings a lot of NFL experience, having played for 10 years—nine with the Denver Broncos and one with the Jaguars.
He has a career field goal percentage of 81.4 and a strong 97.2 percent on extra-point attempts.
Last season with the Jaguars, he made 30 out of 37 field goals (81.1 percent) and successfully completed all 35 extra-point tries. While McManus’ field goal percentage was slightly lower than Anders Carlson’s for the Packers (81.8 percent), he was much more reliable in the 40-49-yard range, where Carlson had difficulties. McManus made 11 out of 13 attempts from that distance, whereas Carlson only made four out of eight.
Interestingly, the San Francisco 49ers signed Carlson to their practice squad on Tuesday.
The Packers are looking at their options for a kicker, indicating they might be ready to move on from Narveson after another missed kick in Week 6.
