GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — The Packers have signed veteran kicker Brandon McManus and released rookie Brayden Narveson, the team announced Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon outside of his team's practice facility, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst gave a rare interview to a group of reporters to discuss the organization's decision to bring in McManus, saying he is "very comfortable" with the signing.
As a member of the Jaguars last year on a trip to London, McManus was accused of sexual assault by two flight attendants, however the NFL said it found insufficient evidence to support the claims and cleared the kicker late last month.
"For us really, obviously, he wouldn't be available right now if those accusations weren't out there," Gutekunst said. "But I think the league did a really thorough investigation and we leaned on that as we went through it."
As of yesterday, the Associated Press reported that McManus still faced a civil suit filed by the flight attendants in Duval County Circuit Court in Florida. However, McManus said Wednesday that the civil case has now been resolved.
“I’m just happy the matter has been resolved," McManus said. "It’s been difficult. Just continue to try to keep my head down work hard. Extremely thankful that there was someone out there that was willing to give me another chance."
The NFL said considers the case against the new Packers kicker closed, but said the case could be reopened if new evidence comes to light.
"It's been a difficult time these last couple of months and I'm happy that it's in the past now," McManus said. "I'm excited to integrate myself into this community, into this locker room here. Done a lot of charity work in the past. What a great football town this is. What a tradition it is here. Like I said, excited to be here and start a fresh start here.
Gutekunst said the team's investigation was linked with the NFL's and that the team feels "very, very comfortable with acquisition."
"Really good conversation with Brandon last night and obviously, and his agent Drew Rosenhaus, "the Packers GM said when asked directly about the signing. "Last week when these things kind of got cleared up in the league and he got past some other things, those conversations kind of picked up and wanted to make sure we did our due diligence. Again, we feel really good about that — where we sit right now and we're excited to get him out there."
On the field, McManus has been lights out kicking from inside 50 yards, making 90.8% of his kicks over his career. On field goal tries of 50 yards or more, his percentage plummeted down to 54.9%. In total, McManus has made 81.4 % of his kicks during his career. He spent 9 years with the Broncos before signing with the Jaguars for the 2023 season.
"Very experienced kicker," Gutekunst said. "He's been in very high-pressure sitauations and kicked a long time in a weather outdoor stadium. He just has a lot of experience. Very talented, very gifted, very strong leg. He's been in the fire and he's had the ups and downs that all kickers go through and been able to come out the other side."
As for why the team made the change, Gutekunst said the team needed more consistency. Narveson made just 12 of his 17 field goal attempts on the season.
"I think where our football team is at right now and how important these games are, I thought it was important that if we had an opportunity to get a veteran kicker who has been through some of these fires, some of this pressure, that our team is going to go through over the next few weeks," Gutekunst said. "I thought it was important that we acquire one and really (McManus) was the only one that was out there."
