Green Bay Packers Defensive Players Poke Fun at Brandon McManus, Who Filled in as Referee in Practice

McManus did not play in Green Bay’s last preseason game in order to give International Pathway Player Mark McNamee some more reps. It appears he has performed well enough in camp, t oo, for Packers coaches to give him a day off here and there.

They did so on Tuesday, but had a different job for him during practice:

As one can see in the post above, McManus served as a referee during practice, and drew some joking criticism from his teammates, especially those on defense.

Per Packers insider Wes Hodkiewicz , linebacker Kristian Welch said, “They called a pass interference. We were like, ‘Oh come on, that was not…’ I looked over there at the ref and I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ … I kind of stood there and (Isaiah) Sim mons was like, ‘That’s McManus.’ I’m like. “Oh my gosh, it is.”

Mike Spofford reported that cornerback Keisean Nixon quipped, “He gets on my nerves. He threw like three flags on me today. Anytime he saw I was trash talking, he threw a flag at me. Bogus.

“Yeah, that’s why I grabbed his flag and did like the Travis Kelce. I threw it back at him. I’m going to throw all his stuff in the cold tub and tell him to go get it. He’s an old man.”

While the above statements are humorous, they are also a testament to how far Green Bay’s kicking game has come in the span of a year. For a season and a half, no one knew if any given kick, field goal or extra point, was going to go in.

Now the Packers feel so comfortable with McManus at the position that they have him taking practices off as a player to serve as a referee.

It is a good spot for the team to be in, even if McManus is “an old man” as Nixon joked.