After being cut Tuesday by the Denver Broncos, Brandon McManus now lands as an option for the Detroit Lions to upgrade their kicker spot.
It’s rare for a kicker to spend his entire NFL career with one team. Up until Tuesday that’s what Brandon McManus had done, landing with the Denver Broncos in 2014 and being there ever since. But according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and McManus himself, the veteran kicker has been released.
McManus’ “more to come in the following days” sort of comes off gloomingly, as if he may announce his retirement. But he’s only 31 (32 in July), so he should have plenty of good years left. While he made just a shade under 78 percent of his field goals overall last season, and his long distance accuracy (50-plus yards out) has fallen off, he is an excellent 43-for-45 from 40-49 yards out over the last five seasons.
Brandon McManus is immediate kicker upgrade option for the Detroit Lions
The Lions re-signed Michael Badgley after his solid 12-game run last year, as he nicely stabilized the team’s kicker situation. XFL standout John Parker Romo was signed after a rookie minicamp tryout, if only for a little competition.
For a bit of comparison, Badgley has the same number of 50-plus yard field goal attempts over the last five seasons (all or part of) as McManus had last year alone (13).
As Schefter mentioned, McManus is now another available veteran option for “kicker-needy teams”, joining Robbie Gould, Mason Crosby and some other notable names.
The Lions don’t necessarily fit the bill as greatly “kicker-needy”, but they have seemed ripe for an upgrade over Badgley–such as one could be or could’ve been had in free agency or the draft. Romo is simply an unknown entity, albeit an interesting one.
McManus is a proven commodity, and having home games indoors could revive his accuracy from the longest of distances. The Lions should absolutely have interest in him. The question is if they do, or will.