A fifth miss from inside 50 yards, all of which missed wide right, marked the end of a six-week experiment with Brayden Narveson as the kicker of the Green Bay Packers.
Narveson’s 44-yard miss in the second half of Sunday’s win over the Arizona Cardinals at Lambeau Field led the Packers — who vowed patience with a rookie kicker — to make a midseason change. Multiple reports say the Packers will sign veteran Brandon McManus ahead of Sunday’s visit from the 5-1 Houston Texans.
Several times over the last two months, coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst preached patience with a new kicker. Gutekunst went as far as to admit he has given up on specialists too early during his career as Packers general manager. LaFleur has consistently defended Narveson’s demeanor and practice performance.
But when it mattered, the results weren’t nearly good enough — especially for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Instead of hoping Narveson would improve and the misses to the right would get fixed, the Packers spun the kicker carousel again.
Narveson, who was claimed off waivers after final cuts, made 12 of 17 field goals in six games. His 17 attempts ranked second among kickers, but his five misses were an NFL-high. Among qualifying kickers, Narveson’s 70.6 field goal percentage ranked 32nd, second to last and ahead of only Greg Zierlein, who had two misses in the New York Jets’ loss to the Buffalo Bills to end Week 6. All five of Narveson’s misses came from under 50 yards, including a miss from under 40.
Narveson was the sixth of now seven attempts from the Packers to get it right at kicker in the post-Mason Crosby era. Anders Carlson, Jack Podlesny, Greg Joseph, James Turner and Alex Hale all got chances. The Packers went the unconventional route to start the 2024 season, claiming Narveson — an undrafted rookie — off waivers from the Titans after neither Carlson nor Joseph stepped up and won the job during training camp. Hale was kept as the international player on the practice squad.
The experiment failed.
Now, kicking duties will go to McManus, a 10-year NFL veteran who made 30 field goals and went 100 percent on extra points for the Jacksonville Jaguars last season. He is only available because of an on-going lawsuit claiming he committed sexual assault while on a plane with the Jaguars last year, although he hasn’t been charged with a crime and the NFL announced McManus would not be punished under the league’s conduct policy.
McManus has over 300 career field goal attempts. On kicks under 50 yards, McManus has a career field goal percentage of 90.8 — ninth best among kickers with at least 50 such attempts since 2010. Kicking in the altitude in Denver for nine years, McManus attempted a lot of long kicks. But he consistently made the field goals that kickers in the modern NFL are now expected to hit.
Narveson and Carlson missed too many high percentage kicks over the last two years. In McManus, the Packers should have a reliable veteran who can consistently convert extra points and kicks in the 30-49 range.
But McManus is 33 years old and still dealing with a significant off-the-field issue, so it’s fair to wonder if the Packers are going to get the very best version of him right away.
Two years of field goal malfeasance has tested and possibly ruined the Packers patience with kickers. Green Bay has missed an NFL-high 11 field goals during the regular season since the start of 2023, and only one team has missed more extra points than Green Bay’s five. Those numbers don’t even count an extra point miss and a devastating field goal miss from Carlson in the playoffs last season.
Narveson got a six-week trial. The Packers thought he was the answer, but patience wore thin quickly. It’s now on McManus to give the Packers their first reliable kicking option in the post-Crosby era.