In his post-game press conference on Sunday after the Green Bay Packers’ last-second loss to the Detroit Lions, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said Trey Smack will be Green Bay’s kicker moving forward, so don’t expect the team to move off the rookie this week. As a reminder, the Packers play their second Thursday Night Football game of the season next week, this time against the Carolina Panthers, so the green and gold will have another abbreviated week of practice.
Smack missed two field goals of
under 35 yards, making him the first kicker in the entire NFL season to do so, in the loss against Detroit. One of those kicks was blocked. As a rookie, Smack is now 11 of 16 on field goals, with four misses coming over the last three weeks. Smack has also missed two extra points in 2026.
Beyond the Smack news, LaFleur also stated that it’s his expectation that both Sean Rhyan and Jacob Monk, the two centers who went down with injuries early on in Week 7’s action, will miss next week’s game against Carolina. He wouldn’t comment on whether those injuries are expected to be long-term issues, but right now it looks like John Williams, who got his first offensive NFL snaps on Sunday, will be the team’s center verus the Panthers.
Green Bay came into the week “oversigned” on the offensive line, which forced them to make three scratches on the position to make a 48-man game-day roster. More than likely, the team will not make a move on the offensive line, but will instead activate two of Kevin Zeitler, Donovan Jennings and Jager Burton, the three offensive linemen they scratched in Week 7. Two of those players, along with Aaron Banks, should be the Packers’ backups on the line next week.
