As we wrote earlier this offseason, the Green Bay Packers had an opportunity to move off of kicker Brandon McManus, if they really wanted to. Based on their actions on Friday, they don’t want to.
On March 13th, McManus was due a $1 million signing bonus. Usually, the timing of signing bonuses can be a catalyst for a release (or contract restructure) if teams don’t want to keep a player at his cash or cap price for the upcoming season. There was no release of McManus reported, nor were there reports about a restructure, so we can just assume that McManus received that $1 million. If he didn’t, we would have heard of it by now.
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At every opportunity, general manager Brian Gutekunst has shown support for McManus this offseason, stating that there will be a competition in 2026, only because there’s always competition at the position. Usually, the number two kicker for the Packers in camp has been an international player pathways player. At the moment, the only other kicker on Green Bay’s roster is Lucas Havrisik, who played in three games for the Packers in 2025 when McManus was injured.
Because that $1 million bonus has now been paid to McManus, a release (or trade) of the kicker will now come with a $4.33 million dead cap charge in 2026 (at least pre-June 1st). The cap savings that the team would make from moving off McManus would be less than $950,000, more than the minimum salary of even a second-year player in the league. Again, that salary would be less than the bonus that McManus just received, so it seems unlikely that the Packers will go that route.
At this point, it’s safe to assume that McManus is going to be back in 2026, unless Havrisik outperforms him in a significant way in camp. If McManus is on the roster in Week 1, his $2.1 million base salary for the 2026 season will be fully guaranteed, as he’s a vested veteran.
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