Packers Receive Troubling News Early in Training Camp

Green Bay Packers rookie kicker Trey Smack has made 8 of 13 field-goal tries through the early stages of training camp, according to reporting from The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman.

The Packers have conducted formal kicking sessions during two of their first four practices.

On the opening day of those sessions, Smack converted three of five attempts. He missed from 39 yards and 45 yards, with both sailing wide left.

The following day brought more inconsistency. Smack pushed attempts wide right from 33 yards and 55 yards and struck the left upright from 52 yards.

He closed that practice on a positive note by drilling a 51-yard field goal to conclude a two-minute drill.

Before camp opened, the Packers cut Lucas Havrisik and Lenny Krieg. That left Smack as the sole kicker on the roster and without direct competition for the job.

Green Bay selected Smack in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL draft. The team released veteran Brandon McManus fewer than two weeks afterward.

Smack arrived as the consensus top-rated kicker in his draft class. At Florida, he converted 83 percent of his field-goal attempts across three college seasons.

The Packers have searched for lasting stability at the position since Mason Crosby left after the 2022 season. They previously turned to Anders Carlson, Brayden Narveson and McManus with mixed results.

Team officials hope Smack can end that cycle. General manager Brian Gutekunst voiced strong support for the rookie ahead of camp.

“Obviously, we really like Trey,” Gutekunst said. “It wasn’t something we went into the draft last year saying, ‘hey we’re going to target a kicker and try to draft a kicker’, but he was the highest-ranked guy on board when that fell, and so, we felt that he has the chance to be a very, very good kicker in this league and be one of those championship-level kickers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have taken him.”

Gutekunst also addressed the need for measured expectations with a first-year specialist and the premium placed on postseason reliability.

“I’d like to think I’m going to have more patience than I’ve had,” he said. “It’s interesting, since the last kicker we had here with Mason, who was really consistent for us, in the regular season we’ve been at a higher percentage than Mason was with all of the different kickers that we’ve had. It’s just the playoffs; that’s where we’ve really struggled…So I’d like to have some patience here, but at the end of the day, any player, if he’s costing us to win football games, we’re going to have to look at that. We really have a lot of confidence in Trey, and what he’s going to be able to do, but he is a rookie kicker, and he’s got a lot to learn and to earn before he gets there.”

Plenty of time remains before the Packers must finalize their kicking plans. Smack has not yet attempted kicks in a preseason game or during Family Night at Lambeau Field, where he will face game-like pressure and a full stadium.

Continued misses could prompt the organization to evaluate additional options as camp progresses.