GREEN BAY, Wis. — With Brandon McManus' status for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals still in limbo—and largely dependent on how he feels when he wakes up in the morning—the Green Bay Packers are moving forward with their contingency plan at kicker.
That plan doesn't feature the Irish-born Mark McNamee, who is currently on the Packers' practice squad as their international roster exemption. Instead, the Packers signed Lucas Havrisik to their 53-man roster—with two open spots, a corresponding roster move wasn't necessary.
The Packers likely always intended to pursue someone with legitimate game experience. On Friday, they hosted a familiar face in Greg Joseph for a workout. He spent time in Green Bay last summer and was a part of a three-way kicking competition between himself, Brayden Narveson and Anders Carlson with all three playing themselves out of town.
Havrisik, a former undrafted free agent who most recently played in the United Football League, is merely an insurance option. His inclusion doesn't indicate anything good or bad regarding McManus' availability for Sunday, but Havrisik does provide the Packers with an experienced leg as opposed to someone like McNamee, who has yet to suit up for a regular-season game in the NFL.
After going undrafted in 2022, Havrisik has spent time with the Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills and had two separate stints with the Cleveland Browns. While his savvy is by no means extensive, Havrisik has kicked in nine regular-season games for the Rams in 2023, connecting on 15 of his 20 field-goal attempts and 19 of his 22 extra-point attempts. He connected on a 22-yard game-winning kick in the waning moments to help the Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks.
In the UFL, Havrisik was 22-of-25 from the field for the Dallas Renegades.
(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
McManus has been hindered by a quad injury that impacted his practice time this past week. Head coach Matt LaFleur called it a "major concern," but McManus has already come forth and said that he expects to play against the Bengals. That was on Thursday, and a lot of things can change in three days, including general soreness that impacts McManus' kicking leg. If all goes well, Havrisik will likely be one of the Packers' healthy scratches.
The 34-year-old McManus is 7-of-9 on field goal attempts with his lone actual miss coming at the end of the first half against the Washington Commanders on Sept. 11. His second miss was blocked as a result of leaks in the protection unit up front. McManus has also had an extra-point attempt blocked.
McManus made a pair of tackles in the Packers' Sept. 28 meeting with the Dallas Cowboys—one of which left him visibly shaken up—but LaFleur said that his current injury isn't related. It's worth noting that if the Packers were truly worried about McManus' injury, they presumably would've downgraded him from 'questionable' to either 'doubtful' or 'out' on Saturday.
The Packers are fresh off signing McManus to a three-year contract extension over the offseason. It was a $15.3 million dollar deal, complete with a signing bonus worth $5 million dollars. It was a well-earned investment after McManus connected on just north of 95 percent of his field-goal attempts (20-of-21) in 2024, as well as all 30 of his extra-point attempts.
In addition to Havrisik, the Packers also signed offensive lineman Brant Banks to the practice squad and released Deslin Alexandre to open up the spot. Banks returns to Green Bay where he spent training camp and the preseason before being released and signed to the practice squad on Aug. 27 following cut-downs. He was elevated for the game against the Commanders in Week 2 and then promoted to the 53-man roster on Sept. 23. He was waived one week later, claimed by the Tennessee Titans and then waived once again on Oct. 9.
Zachary Jacobson is the Editor-in-Chief of Packer Report. He is entering his 11th season covering theGreen Bay Packers. He is a member of thePro Football Writers of America. Follow him on Twitter@zacobson or contact him via email atitszachariahj@gmail.com