Right around the midpoint of the 2025 season, it looked like the Green Bay Packers might have a legitimate kicking competition on their hands. Brandon McManus was missing time with a quad injury to his kicking leg, so the Packers brought in former Los Angeles Rams kicker Lucas Havrisik to handle duties for a bit, and he did well. One might even say he did very well — so well that fans were calling for McManus to be released once he returned and promptly started to miss kicks again. The Packers would eventually stick with McManus, bring Havrisik back on the practice squad, and then sign him to a futures contract to come and compete this offseason. After McManus ended the season so poorly with his playoff misses, is Havrisik enough competition for him, or should the Packers bring in even more kickers to push the incumbents?

It’s no secret that McManus struggled in 2025. After coming in midseason in 2024 and saving their kicking game — including the game-winner in his first game as a Packer — the Packers were quick to reward him with a three-year, $15.3 million contract. His follow-up was downright disappointing. Appearing in 14 games (missing three with the quad injury), he finished 24 of 30 on field goals and 32 of 33 on extra points. The biggest issue is that when the Packers needed him most, he came up flat. The seven points he cost them in the wild card round against the Bears would be the difference between winning and losing that game. When the Packers asked him to kick a game-tying field goal on a Monday night against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, his kick wasn’t even in the same area code as the goalpost. Yes, it was a 64-yarder, but in today’s NFL those types of kicks are becoming more prevalent. Once lauded for his big leg, he has only been asked to attempt eight kicks of 50 yards or more in the last two seasons. Thirteen kickers in 2025 attempted that many in a single season.

We could talk about the weird injury situation that played out with McManus. Was he more hurt than he wanted to admit, or was he not as hurt as the Packers were making him seem? It appeared there was a miscommunication between player and team. It made for a viral moment in October when, during a press conference, head coach Matt LaFleur commented, “I don’t talk to kickers.” He preceded that comment by saying that McManus looked good during a practice session after missing time and that he didn’t ask him how he felt. It’s interesting that a head coach wouldn’t ask his kicker how he was feeling, but if Jordan Love suffered a hangnail, we know LaFleur would be all over it. Maybe the injury was much worse than we were led to believe and lingered all season, directly causing McManus to underperform.

During McManus’ three-game absence, the Packers brought in former substitute teacher turned NFL kicker Lucas Havrisik. In those three games, he connected on all four of his field goal attempts while missing two extra points. He will most likely always be known as the kicker with the longest field goal in franchise history, thanks to his 61-yarder against the Arizona Cardinals in just his second game with the team. It was that kick that led to Packers fans calling for him to overtake McManus as the team’s primary kicker. That big-leg ability he flashed was appealing as a potential weapon for a late-season shootout. What added to the controversy was the fact that the team kept Havrisik on the roster for several weeks once McManus resumed his spot as the starting kicker. On the surface, it was probably just the Packers protecting themselves from losing him on waivers if they cut him so soon after his 61-yarder and impressive spot duty. There are usually a handful of teams looking for kickers midseason, and if one proves he can come in and make big kicks, then he is probably worth a team’s time to claim him.

So now that both are on the offseason roster, should the 2026 Packers kicking job just come down to a battle between them, or should the Packers add some more bodies? I’m sure the new special teams coordinator, whoever they end up hiring will have a say but I’m always a proponent of adding legitimate competition. It is kicker, so there are only so many roster spots you can dedicate to it — even on the 90-man offseason roster — but they should be able to add one more for camp; we have seen them do it before. I’m not talking about an undrafted free agent or an international-type player (for the free roster spot), either. I’m talking about a legitimate option to win the job and be the team’s kicker in 2026.

No, they aren’t going to sign Justin Tucker, but a veteran kicker looking for a job would be a nice addition. I’m not going to pretend to be a kicker expert, but a quick Google search would reveal that there are a handful of kickers with vast amounts of experience finding themselves on the market. Taking a chance on one — similar to what the Packers did when they signed Greg Joseph two summers ago to push Anders Carlson — might be the right move. I wasn’t in the camp that thought Joseph had a chance to win that job, but he was the one who survived the cutdown to the 53-man roster. Find a veteran who is willing to come in and compete for the job. Whoever has the best performance, regardless of contract status, should be the Packers’ kicker in 2026. After Jason Myers’ performance in the Super Bowl, a good kicker can make all the difference in the world. If the Packers are going to make a run and hopefully find themselves where the Seahawks did this year, they need a kicker they can trust in those situations.