For better or worse, the Green Bay Packers’ decision to trade a pair of seventh-round draft picks had some knock-on effects that will affect the team’s salary cap sheet in 2026. A few weeks ago, towards the end of the 2026 NFL Draft, General manager Brian Gutekunst sent both of his 7th-round selections to Seattle for the final pick in the 6th round. With that pick, the Packers selected Florida kicker Trey Smack, clearly paving the way for a change at the position.
Smack’s arrival helped push the Packers to release Brandon McManus on Friday, and the team made him a post-June 1 cut to spread his dead money out over the next two seasons. However, as Bill Huber over at SI.com noted, McManus already got a $1 million check from the Packers this offseason — he had that amount in a roster bonus that paid out during the first week of the league year back in March.
Now the team is out that cash and cap space, all for what? Some sense of security by keeping him on the roster?
Meanwhile, the move for Smack also had another impact — if the Packers had a couple of 7th-round picks, they almost certainly would have drafted a couple of players from the list of those who ended up signing with the team as undrafted free agents. But because they didn’t draft them, it appears that they got into a bit of a bidding war for signing some of these players as UDFAs. As you’ll see, the Packers had to guarantee significant base salary money to four different signees — almost $1 million in total for just those four players — and that is something that the team has been very hesitant to do in the past.
Looking solely at the kicker position, this still seems like good process for the Packers. And this writer, at least, feels that the investment in Smack was worth it — he’s the right kicker prospect to make the move up for. But it’s still important to note the additional financial impact of the move.
Can the Packers absorb, say, $1.5 million in extra costs from the eaten signing bonus and additional guarantees for two of those top UDFAs? Yes, probably. But every marginal dollar is still meaningful in the NFL, and that’s another $1.5 million that they’ll have to figure out how to account for this season.