Former Denver Broncos kicker Brandon McManus didn't take long to land on his feet.
After the Denver Broncos made the surprising decision to cut McManus while the team is in the midst of its latest phase of OTAs, the Super Bowl 50 champion signed a free agent deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, per multiple media reports. The Jaguars quickly confirmed the move while also announcing they had cut kicker Riley Patterson to add McManus.
We have signed K Brandon McManus and waived K Riley Patterson.https://t.co/rRBd0NvTKc
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) May 25, 2023
Patterson was a tad more efficient than McManus last season, so the move from Jacksonville's perspective is at least a little bit surprising.
Now, the Denver Broncos have to finalize whoever their next kicker is going to be. The team brought in a trio of kickers for a tryout on Wednesday including former Cowboys kicker Brett Maher and two former South Carolina kickers in Parker White and Elliott Fry.
The funny thing about the Broncos bringing in both White and Fry for a tryout is that White used his sixth year of eligibility to break Fry's all-time scoring record for the Gamecocks. It would have been interesting to be around to hear what their conversation was like, if they even brought it up at all.
In reality, the overwhelming favorite should be Brett Maher, who made 90.6 of his kicks for the Dallas Cowboys last season including an outstanding 9-of-11 from 50-plus. That included Maher making his one and only shot from 60.
There were only four kickers in the NFL to hit from 60-plus last season and there were only five kickers who made at least nine kicks from 50-plus. Brandon McManus made eight of them, to be fair.
There is some recency bias going on with Maher, who got a case of the yips in the playoffs, missing a handful of extra points and drawing the ire of everyone in Cowboys Nation. Although he went ice cold at a horrible time, Maher was still excellent last season and would be a fine replacement for McManus at this stage.