What a Brandon McManus extension with the Packers would look like based on the kicker market

Take a look at the list of Green Bay Packers free agents for 2025. It’s hard to argue that kicker Brandon McManus is the most important one, and that he will be a priority to keep around next season.

“We had a good conversation before he left, and you guys know how he solidified that journey we were going on,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said after the season. “Obviously, he’s a veteran guy. His ability to adjust, the weather we had. Our specialist group with Matt (Orzech) and Daniel (Whelan), if we’re able to get Brandon back, certainly would feel very, very good about that group.”

Around the league

The kicker market is somewhat weird because there is a huge gap between veteran players (even the ones who are not elite) and players on their rookie contracts.

Outside of the minimum guys, the least expensive kicker is Chicago Bears’ Cairo Santos, who is making $3.9 million per season. It quickly gets way more expensive than that, and the top of the market has Kansas City Chiefs’ Harrison Butker making $6.4 million and Philadelphia Eagles’ Jake Elliott at $6 million per year.

Track record

Brandon McManus missed a huge 38-yard field goal against the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs, his first postseason miss. But outside of that, he had an impressive performance for the Packers.

Among players with at least 20 field goal attempts, he had the second-best percentage (95.2), right before Nick Folk (95.4) from the Tennessee Titans. But that was also his best season in the NFL, and his career average is 82.2% for field goals.

McManus is not an elite kicker—he’s never been an All-Pro or Pro Bowler. But good, not great kickers are making between $5 million and $5.5 million per season.

Cleveland Browns‘ Dustin Hopkins is a good parameter, because he was 33 last year when he signed his extension (the same age McManus is now), and a similar career field goal percentage (83.9). He signed a three-year, $15.9 million.

What it could look like

It makes sense for the Packers to secure Brandon McManus to a relatively long-term deal, giving them security at the position, while allowing a team-friendly structure in terms of how the contract will hit the cap.

It could, for instance, be a three-year, $16.5 million contract—$5.5 million in yearly average. For McManus, that would be an impressive recovery after the off-the-field issues he went through, which led him to a $656k deal with the Packers in 2024—a proration of the veteran minimum.

Contract structure

In 2025, the veteran minimum for players with seven or more accrued seasons in the NFL is $1.255 million.

Even if the Packers make a regular contract paying McManus exactly $5.5 million per year, it would be possible to pay $4.245 million in the form of a signing bonus, making his 2025 cap hit be at $2.67 million.

Based on how Brandon McManus solidified the kicking position for the Packers and how small the kicker market is compared to offensive and defensive positions, it’s a no-brainer for Green Bay. And everyone seems inclined to admit that it’s the best possible solution after so much turnover at the position since the team moved on from Mason Crosby.