As Green Bay Packers fans continue to debate veteran kicker Brandon McManus’ future in Titletown, the latest kicking-related news could have their attention.
Graham Gano got off to a rough start this week as he found out he was released on Monday morning, according to SNY’s Connor Hughes. The late-March split makes the 16-year veteran a free agent and should be on the radar of any team with a kicking problem. Given his history, there will be several candidates to sign him as the offseason continues, and the Packers could be a surprising suitor.
The Packers appear set to let McManus work out his kinks after a rough 2025 season, but they would benefit greatly from adding competition. While McManus will be the heavy favorite in any situation, Gano gives Green Bay a chance at meaningful competition during the offseason program and enough of a selling point for him to consider joining the Packers.
Graham Gano Is the Competition Brandon McManus Needs
Like any player that gets released this time of year, Gano is down on his luck. While he’s been in the league since breaking in with the Washington Commanders in 2009, he’s fallen on tough times in the past three years with the Giants, failing to play a full season since 2022 and making just 29-of-38 (76.3%) of his field goal attempts during that time.
Part of the blame goes to a laundry list of injuries, including a knee injury in 2023, a hamstring injury in 2024, and a groin injury with a herniated disc in his neck that required season-ending surgery last November. Teams want results, and Gano’s haven’t been good enough, requiring him to look for more of a rebound than a starting job.
The Packers wouldn’t appear to be a soft landing spot since McManus is already in place. But they have been a place where kickers have been able to find themselves after falling upon hard times.
Green Bay Knows How to Revive Kicking Careers
McManus was the first kicker to become rejuvenated in Green Bay. Although he has an 82% field goal conversion rate over his career, McManus slipped to 77.8% (28-of-36) in his final year with the Denver Broncos in 2022 and was not retained by the Jacksonville Jaguars after making 30-of-37 field goals (81.1%) in 2023.
After sitting on the free agent market past the start of the 2024 season, McManus signed in Green Bay, making 20-of-21 field goals (95.2%) and earning a three-year, $15.3 million contract last spring. However, a quad injury last season opened the door for another veteran kicker, Lucas Havrisik.
Havrisik made just 15-of-20 (75%) of his field goals during a nine-game stint with the Los Angeles Rams in 2023 and was out of football in 2024. The 26-year-old even resorted to substitute teaching before signing with the Packers, making 4-of-4 field goals, including a franchise-record 61-yarder in a three-game cameo.
Havrisik was re-signed to a futures contract in January, and a three-man competition could lead to the Packers’ emerging with the best option.
These reclamation projects are a selling point to Gano and could be a big benefit to the Packers. While Gano’s career field goal percentage of 83.8% is similar to McManus, he’s had more success, including a 2017 campaign with the Carolina Panthers where he led the NFL with a 96.7% field goal conversion rate and made the Pro Bowl.
The former Florida State Seminole also knocked down 96.9% of his field goals with the Giants in 2020 and made 9-of-10 field goals last year before succumbing to injury.
This is the type of competition the Packers should be seeking after McManus struggled last season, making just 24-of-30 field goals (80.0%) during the regular season and missing two more field goals and an extra point during a Wild Card loss to the Chicago Bears. While adding a kicker in the draft is another option, Green Bay’s recent whiff on Anders Carlson (2023) shows that it is not a foolproof strategy.
Adding a proven veteran like Gano would be better than adding a house of cards that wouldn’t solve the problem.
It’s another interesting turn in the Packers’ kicker drama, and it should have both Gano and general manager Brian Gutekunst picking up the phone to see if there’s mutual interest.
