One Unexpected Move by the Packers Could Be the Key to Reshaping Their Roster for Years to Come.QQ

Lucas Havrisik has been perfect in two games for the Packers, but now the team has to make a tough decision with veteran Brandon McManus returning from injury.

NFL News Writer

Out of nowhere, the Green Bay Packers found a real NFL player. The team was put in a tough situation last week having to replace veteran kicker Brandon McManus, and the signing of Lucas Havrisik has proven to be the perfect one.

Havrisik has converted each one of his 10 kicks as a member of the Packers, including a franchise-record 61-yard field goal during the 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

“I honestly didn’t have a great pregame, if I’m being honest,” Havrisik said. “You just gotta have confidence. My body didn’t feel great. It is what it is, but you can’t let stuff impact your brain. You gotta just trust what you do and all the preparation and how many times you’ve hit a rep.”

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Brandon McManus has missed the past two games with a quad injury. However, the Packers didn’t place him on injured reserve, and there’s a belief he should be back soon. Now, Green Bay has a decision to make.

McManus has been extremely reliable since he arrived in Green Bay last year, and he signed a three-year extension with the Packers back in the offseason. He is their long-term kicker, and that will likely not change due to two games of Lucas Havrisik.

Theoretically, the Packers could waive Havrisik and see if he clears waivers. If he does, Green Bay could bring him back to the practice squad to have a backup kicker — a more reasonable possibility after the team released Irish kicker Mark McNamee from the practice squad, despite his roster exemption via the International Pathway Program.

The other option is that the Packers could trade Lucas Havrisik to a kicker-needy team — and there are always some of them around the NFL.

You could think that the Packers don’t have any leverage, because it’s evident that they will have to cut Havrisik after McManus is back. However, it’s common for teams to trade late-round picks or to execute late-round swaps for specialists — it’s more frequent ahead of final roster cuts, for sure, but it could happen during the regular season as well.

It would obviously not be a great trade package. But after sending two first-round picks for Micah Parsons and a sixth-rounder for offensive lineman Darian Kinnard, the Packers could certainly use any type of additional draft capital. Especially for a player that Green Bay didn’t expect to get anything out of.