Packers Taking Bizarre Approach to Trey Smack, Kicking Situation

Being an NFL kicker is a simple job. It’s also a difficult job.

He has one job and that’s to make kicks. Relying on the power in your leg and years of training is the simple part. The hard part is what’s rattling around between the ears.

Every NFL kicker can stand alone on a practice field and make kick after kick after kick when nobody is watching. But how about when 78,000 fans at Lambeau Field are watching? How about when 67,000 fans at U.S. Bank Stadium are screaming and the game is on the line in a rivalry showdown?

The weight of the moment can get to even the most grizzled of veterans. Look no further than, obviously, Brandon McManus, who committed the cardinal sin of letting one missed kick become two and two become three in last year’s playoff game at Chicago. The Packers left seven points on the field in a four-point loss.

The leg wasn’t McManus’ problem. It’s what was between the ears on that cold January evening.

In response to McManus’ colossal meltdown, the Packers traded up for Trey Smack in April’s NFL Draft. There is no doubting the sixth-round pick’s talent. The ball explodes off his foot. He has, as one evaluator put it, an “NFL-standard leg” – the type of power required to blast the ball through the cold and wind at Lambeau Field in January.

Is he strong between the ears, though?

Who knows? He had an up-and-down series of offseason practices. Were his inaccuracies based on being a rookie and adjusting to a new holder and new surroundings? Or were they based on being the kicker hand-picked to eliminate a nagging problem holding back a championship-caliber team? And, like McManus at Chicago, did he let one missed kick become two and three?

The prudent thing might have been to let Smack battle it out against McManus. McManus was sensational in 2024 and got hot toward the end of 2025 before the Chicago debacle. With a veteran breathing down his neck, that would have added a layer of pressure that could have helped the rookie get ready for the pressure of making big NFL kicks.

Instead, the Packers got rid of McManus before the start of the offseason practices. Really, it’s hard to quibble too much with the decision. Sure, it was akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water, but after what happened in the 2025 playoffs, could the Packers really afford to trot him back out there in the 2026 playoffs?

Besides, the Packers still had Lucas Havrisik.

Havrisik’s career track record isn’t very good, with 79.2 percent accuracy on field goals and 83.9 percent on extra points in 12 career games, but sometimes it takes a kicker time to find his way. Havrisik made all four field-goal attempts for the Packers last season, including a 61-yarder at Arizona before halftime – perhaps the most unsung play in getting them to the playoffs.

So, letting Havrisik – a legit NFL talent with some success in the league – compete against Smack would have provided some in-house pressure to either make Smack as battle-tested as possible entering the season or to serve as an insurance policy if the rookie wilted under the pressure of being a rookie.

Instead, the Packers released Havrisik on the eve of training camp and signed Lenny Krieg.

Krieg has an NFL leg but barely any more NFL experience than Smack. Krieg grew up in Germany and learned how to kick by watching YouTube videos. He didn’t play college football, so isn’t tested like Smack was in the SEC pressure cooker. Krieg’s work in the NFL’s international program and the accuracy and leg strength he displayed at the Scouting Combine landed him with the Falcons last year. He made a 57-yard field goal in the first preseason game but was released at the end of training camp.

So, the Packers – a team that fancies themselves a Super Bowl contender – will enter camp with two rookie kickers.

What could go wrong?

No offense to Krieg, who might wind up being a good NFL kicker, but why not have a legit, experienced challenger on the practice field? Of course, Smack knows that the next challenger is only one phone call from general manager Brian Gutekust away, but there’s no replicating the pressure that comes from having an experienced player there trying to beat you in every drill.

Back in 2002, I started working part-time at Packer Report. It was a weekly magazine at the time, and its headquarters were located on Lombardi Avenue, not far from the stadium. It was Ray Nitschke’s Packer Report at the time. There was pressure writing and editing for what was a national publication. You want to know what was more pressure? Having Nitschke standing over my shoulder as I was editing the legendary linebacker’s column.

With training camp kicking off on Wednesday, the kicker situation will be fascinating to watch. Maybe Smack will have things figured out, and he’ll use the next month as the launching point to a fabulous career.

However, it’s rather dumbfounding that the Packers have gone from entertaining the possibility of having Smack battling both McManus and Havrisik to having Smack face neither. It was always the likely outcome that Smack would be the Week 1 kicker. Now, rather than a competition, it almost feels like a coronation. It definitely feels like a missed opportunity.

Asked about Havrisik before the last practice of minicamp, coach Matt LaFleur talked about Havrisik and Smack. He concluded by saying: “Every competition should bring out the best in each other.”

Now, it’s barely a competition, which seems to be an odd way of conducting a training camp with a rookie kicker coming off a shaky offseason.