When Sean Payton arrived, the Broncos made a ton of changes. Key players were traded or cut, and it was clear that Payton and his staff wanted to bring forth a new era of football. The 2023 season featued a brutal 1-5 start, but the Broncos have since turned it around and are one of the two best teams in the NFL as the playoffs continue.
Well, one of the more notable moves was when the team replaced long-time kicker Brandon McManus with Wil Lutz. In the season before he arrived in Denver, Lutz had made just 74.2% of his kicks with the New Orleans Saints and had missed the entirety of the 2021 NFL Season.
The Broncos took a gamble by replacing McManus with Lutz, but in Lutz' three regular seasons, he's made 89% of his field goals and 98.3% of his kicks. Unfortunately for Brandon McManus, though, he may have just kicked his way out of the NFL with a forgettable Wild Card performance.
Former Broncos kicker Brandon McManus may have kicked his way out of the NFL
Brandon McManus left seven points on the board in the Packers' late-game collapse against the Chicago Bears. And sure, McManus isn't the sole reason why the Packers lost, but if he had just made his field goals...
Brandon McManus lost the Packers the game, more than the Bears won it.
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) January 11, 2026
Two missed FGs. One missed Extra Point.
Packers lost 31-27 pic.twitter.com/yRIP8y0q8N
McManus turns 35 years old this summer, and in the 2025 NFL Season with the Packers, he made 80% of his field goals, but only made 6/12 from 40 yards or more, which isn't an efficient percentage. In his two playoff runs with the Packers, McManus has made just 1/5 field goals.
He recently signed an extension with the Packers, but the team can cut him in the 2026 NFL Offseason as a post-June 1st cut, saving about $3.6 million on their cap and taking on just $1.6 million in dead money.
Approaching his mid-30s and clearly not having the leg he used to, Brandon McManus is as good as gone from the Packers. It's only going to be a matter of time before the front office cuts him, and at that point, his NFL career could come to an end.
It was largely a successful one, but he's not performed well in high-leverage situations and is clearly declining with his overall leg power. In today's NFL, we're seeing some of these younger kickers easily make 60 yard field goals, and it does feel like 60 yards is the new 50 yards.