Green Bay Packers kicker Brandon McManus was injured during Wednesday’s practice and only took mental reps during Thursday’s practice. According to McManus, he plans to play through his quad injury, despite head coach Matt LaFleur calling it a “major concern” before practice on Thursday.
So while McManus might think that he’s playing against the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend, the Packers still made a move to hedge their bets. On Thursday, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
Green Bay worked out two kickers: Greg Joseph and Lucas Havrisik.
Generally, the Packers only work out players on Mondays or Tuesdays during the regular season, so this is certainly an out-of-the-ordinary move for the team.
Joseph was previously in Green Bay during the 2024 season. He was the Packers’ top kicker throughout training camp and had made the team’s initial 53-man roster, but he was later released when Green Bay picked up Brayden Narveson off waivers following the cutdown deadline.
Since Joseph’s stint in Green Bay, he has been a member of the Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders, New York Jets and most recently the San Francisco 49ers. He’s made 16 of 20 field goals (80 percent) with a long of 52 yards since the Packers moved on from him on August 28th, 2024.
Havrisik would be a new kicker for the Packers. Since entering the league as an undrafted rookie out of Arizona in 2022, he’s spent time with the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills. He only kicked for one of those teams, the Rams, in the regular season. With Los Angeles, he was 11 of 11 on field goals of less than 40 yards but just four of nine on field goals of 40 yards or more. He also missed 3 of 22 extra points during the 2023 season.
With that being said, Havrisik, who just turned 26, did have success at the UFL level. This year, he joined the Arlington Renegades, where he ended up leading the entire league in field goals made with 22. He connected on 22 of 25 attempts and had a long of 54 yards.
