The Green Bay Packers gave their new kicker a trial by fire in Sunday’s victory over the Houston Texans.
The Packers released rookie Brayden Narveson, who couldn’t end his unfortunate missed field goal streak, in favor of Super Bowl 50 Champion and veteran kicker Brandon McManus last week. They added McManus to the roster on Wednesday and kicked a game-winning 45-yard field goal just days later.
Green Bay dabbled in the veteran market with Greg Joseph. Still, Anders Carlson‘s draft selection and the decision to gamble on the unproven Narveson showed that Green Bay preferred developing their own young kicker.
But after the Carlson and Narveson roller coasters, the Packers finally pivoted toward signing a reliable, battle-tested veteran kicker, even if the option is more expensive or might not be there long term.
It’s only been a week in the McManus era, but the early results are pleasing. Coupled with punter Daniel Whelan being a field-tilting weapon, the Packers may have figured out their two most important specialist positions. Still, there is work to do if the Packers want to field an actual special teams unit.
The Packers are the eighth-best team by DVOA, and their individual scores resemble the meme of the Hydra with one silly head.
The offense is fifth, and the defense is 13th, gaining some steam after the past few weeks. Meanwhile, special teams, under the league’s highest-paid special teams coordinator, Rich Bisaccia, is 27th. Despite having a massively respected coordinator and allegedly changing the organization’s approach to that phase of the game, the Packers are still consistently one of the worst units in the league.
Overall, there have been some improvements. The unit struggled with penalties last season but has been relatively cleaner this year. Plenty of mental mistakes still occur, and the team hasn’t fully adjusted to the new kickoff rules.
But the kicker is the main thing holding the unit back on a weekly basis. While it doesn’t feel good to kick the man while he’s down, Narveson was one of the league’s worst at his position during his tenure. Not being able to routinely make reasonably distanced kicks cost the Packers points and helped their special teams group tumble down the rankings.
McManus has only been with the team for a week but showed off the veteran grit needed to make high-pressure kicks. If he stays consistent, that should elevate the position immensely.
The Packers may have finally found their kicker, and their punter has consistently been one of their best players this season.
Whelan has a big leg and a knack for getting the ball where it needs to be. He’s consistently put the defense in a favorable field position and has out-dueled other punters game after game. His punts have been difficult to return as well; the Houston Texans only totaled 26 return yards on Sunday.
The two most impactful specialists are locked in, which should take some pressure off the rest of Bisaccia’s unit. But the long snapper and punt returner also need some extra work.
McManus’ first attempt at his game-winner was iced. On the second attempt, a bad snap from Matt Orzech could have spelled disaster, but Whelan was thankfully able to get a good hold on the ball, leading to a successful kick.
Orzech is another former Super Bowl-winning specialist (Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams) but hasn’t really been a positive for the Packers. He’s been inconsistent with his snaps, which didn’t help with Carlson and Narveson’s struggles.
Orzech beat out Wisconsin rookie Peter Bowden in training camp, showing that the Packers preferred continuity there. But with the other two kicker operatives locked down, would Green Bay look for an improvement there? As of this writing, the Packers released Orzech to make room for Jonathan Ford after the latter returned from IR. The expectation is that Green Bay will re-sign Orzech later in the week after a corresponding move is made. However, the team could take this chance to look elsewhere to clean up the operation.
The Packers also need to decide what they want to do with punt returns. Jayden Reed was the preferred option, but he’s proving too valuable to use there, thanks to his emergence as the team’s WR1 (sorry, Matt LaFleur). The new kickoff rules have made it harder for Keisean Nixon, the primary kick returner, to push for an All-Pro three-peat, and it would make sense to hand him the punt return rule full-time. It’s worth noting that both Reed and Nixon made major mistakes against Houston. The Packers could have avoided that if they decided what direction they want to go.
With a competent kicker and a punter who’s become one of the team’s most valuable players, the specialists might be able to elevate the woeful special teams unit and let Bisaccia and Co. focus on fixing the rest of the group. However, the Packers can still do more by figuring out the long snapper position and committing to Keisean Nixon as the punt returner. It might not solve every issue, but it would undoubtedly make this unit appear at least mildly better.