Going into the week, three kickers made our top-200 free agents, based on the consensus of 29 different online free agent rankings. Those three kickers were Joey Sly, Nick Folk and Zane Gonzalez, and after Sly re-signed with the Tennessee Titans on Wednesday, all three are now off the board.
As we wrote back in January, the Green Bay Packers can move on from Brandon McManus this season, but they probably will make that decision early in the offseason, not in the summer after a competition. The reason
is that McManus’ contract includes a $1 million roster bonus due on the third day of the new league year (Friday, March 13th).
Usually, these roster bonus deadlines spur action, as teams don’t want to pay cash to players they won’t be keeping around. Another Green Bay player who was due money on March 13th was cornerback Nate Hobbs, who was released by the Packers on Tuesday.
So if McManus gets paid that bonus on Friday, it’s highly likely that he’s going to be the team’s kicker for the 2026 season. Keep an eye out for news on this front.
After making 95.2 percent of his field goals in 2024, McManus received a three-year extension with the Packers last offseason. Unfortunately, a quad injury, at least in the mind of general manager Brian Gutekunst, led to McManus having a shaky season — resulting in him missing 20 percent of his kicks in the regular season.
Gutekunst has been adamant that McManus will be coming back to the team in 2026, but Gutekunst has been repeating the line that everyone under contract in 2026 is expected to return, too. Already, the team has dumped Hobbs and Elgton Jenkins, along with trading Rashan Gary.
