Green Bay Packers place kicker Brandon McManus. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Key Packers player says he'll play through injury vs. Bengals

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Oct 9, 2025 9:55 PM ET

Special teams has been a disaster for the Green Bay Packers in 2025. Green Bay has a Super Bowl-worthy squad on both offense and defense, but special teams has been a liability.

On Thursday, things seemingly got tougher. Head coach Matt LaFleur announced that kicker Brandon McManus was dealing with a right quad injury that he deemed to be a "major concern."

Green Bay Packers' Brandon McManus comments on injury situation

That set Packer Nation ablaze with concern of its own, but later in the afternoon, McManus cleared things up. He is dealing with an injury, but he is planning on playing against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6.

McManus was asked about LaFleur's characterization of the injury being concerning, and he downplayed what his head coach had to say.

Brandon McManus tells us he plans to kick on Sunday. Asked about LaFleur saying his right quad injury is a “major concern,” McManus said he didn’t talk to LaFleur about his injury and that LaFleur has his own thesaurus.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 9, 2025

Perhaps LaFleur simply felt that his kicker having an injury is a "major concern" and didn't mean there is concern over McManus' status or his ability to play through the injury.

McManus not being able to play would be a major blow for the Packers. He's not been the cause of the blocked kicks the Packers have dealt with, and he's one of the best kickers in the NFL.

Really, McManus and punter Daniel Whelan are the only bright spots on special teams. The rest of the unit has been shaky, to say the least.

Last season, McManus made 20-of-21 field goals (and 30-of-30 extra points) with a long of 55. This season, he's 7-of-9 so far with one miss and one blocked kick.

In Week 3, a blocked, potentially game-winning kick from McManus led to a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Against the Dallas Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football" in Week 4, the Packers allowed an extra point to be blocked, which led to two points for Dallas. The game ended in a 40-40 tie.

If McManus can play through his injury against the Bengals, the Packers will be much better off for it.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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