Lucas Havrisik is obviously one of the better stories of a frustrating Green Bay Packers season. Added to the roster the day before the Packers’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Havrisik just connected on the longest made field goal in the history of a 100-plus-year club. Mind you, he was planning on becoming a substitute teacher just days before.
So now Packers fans are wondering: Can the team actually keep Havrisik, despite Brandon McManus’ extension? The answer is yes, depending on how badly they actually want to make the move.
McManus signed a three-year, $15.3 million deal this offseason that featured a $5 million signing bonus. With that being said, McManus’ combined cap hit over the 2025 and 2026 seasons is $8.8 million. If the team wants to, they can eat that signing bonus, which would be spread over the cap over the next two seasons: $1.7 million on the books for 2025 and the remaining $3.3 million hitting in 2026.
Considering that Havrisik only has one accrued NFL season, the Packers would be able to re-sign the kicker as an exclusive rights free agent in 2026, and Havrisik would be making the league minimum on that tender. Overall, the team would end up actually saving cash with that move, as McManus is due $3.7 million in cash in 2026 — $2.1 million in the form of a signing bonus, $1 million in the form of a roster bonus, $500,000 in per game roster bonuses and $100,000 in workout bonuses.
What this will really boil down to is the Packers’ level of want to. Havrisik hasn’t missed a kick yet, but he’s only made four field goals in Green Bay. Meanwhile, McManus has only missed one kick that wasn’t blocked this year — a 48-yard attempt at the end of the half against the Washington Commanders in Week 2.
Moving off McManus would probably have to come in the form of a trade, considering that McManus is a vested veteran. If McManus were released, the Packers would have to pay out his full $1.4 million salary for the 2025 season, bringing his total cost for the year to about $6.5 million for just four games of play. So it’s highly unlikely that the team would move off McManus if they can’t get some sort of trade compensation back.
At this point, I don’t think that four kicks from Havrisik is enough to just toss out McManus’ consistency over his two years in Green Bay, but obviously the longer McManus remains out with his quad injury the more opportunity Havrisik has to gain momentum. Don’t completely rule out the possibility of Havrisik taking this job, but I also wouldn’t bet on it happening, either.
