Green Bay Packers rookie kicker Trey Smack (left) is off to a rough start at training camp.
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The Trey Smack story has just begun.
The Green Bay Packers believe there are several sensational chapters ahead.
Right, now, though, Chapter 1 has been rocky.
Smack, Green Bay’s rookie kicker, is just 8-of-13 on field goals through the first two days of training camp — an unsightly 61.5%. Smack was 5-of-8 on a gorgeous, 75-degree Monday after going 3-of-5 during a blustery practice Sunday.
“Kind of just act the same every day, really,” Smack said after Monday’s practice. “You hit the ball well, it should be just as even keel as (if) you hit the ball like (expletive).”
For the most part, Smack seems to be hitting the ball fine. It’s just not going through the uprights.
On Monday, Smack was wide right from 33 yards, hit the left upright from 52, and missed badly to the right from 55.
Smack also made kicks from 33, 40, 43, 48 and 51.
“I hit the ball well today,” Smack said. “I thought I hit the ball well. Those mis-hits, those are just mis-hits that happen. But if you hit the ball, they usually go in.”
Green Bay has been looking for an answer at kicker since letting franchise scoring leader Mason Crosby leave after the 2022 season.
Anders Carlson missed more extra points (six) and more total kicks (13) than anyone in football in 2023. He also missed at least one kick in his final five games and 10 of his last 12 contests.
Carlson had a chance to give Green Bay a 24-17 lead over San Francisco in the 2023 NFC divisional playoffs, but missed a 41-yard field goal with just more than 5 minutes left. The 49ers then drove and won the game, 24-21.
FOX sideline reporter Tom Rinaldi said during that contest that Packers coach Matt LaFleur had told him, “When (Carlson) goes out there, I just pray.”
Breyden Narveson won the job in 2024, then began the year 12-of-17 and ranked 31st in the NFL in field goal percentage (70.6%) when Green Bay released him in mid-October.
The Packers turned to veteran Brandon McManus, who was sensational the rest of 2024. McManus made 20-of-21 field goals that season, drilled all 30 of his extra points and had game-winning field goals against Houston and Jacksonville that year.
McManus missed three games with injuries last year. In his stead, Lucas Havrisik made all four of his field goals — including a franchise record 61-yarder — but was just 7-of-9 on extra points.
McManus returned and finished the year 24-of-30 on field goals (80.0%) and 32-of-33 on extra points (97.0%). But McManus left seven points off the board — missing two field goals and an extra point — in a 31-27 Wild Card loss to Chicago.
“Biggest disappointment in my career,” McManus said that night. “Just an embarrassment of a performance.”
The Packers selected Smack in the sixth round of April’s draft, released McManus 13 days later, and also released Havrisik on July 28.
That left Smack as the only kicker in camp, as the Packers chose to avoid having any direct competition in camp. If Smack continues to struggle, though, Green Bay could certainly add another kicker.
Smack knows he’s under a microscope in the fishbowl that is Green Bay. So for now, he’s deleted all social media except Instagram.
“Yeah, social media’s gone for me,” Smack said. “Yeah, I don’t have social media. You know, I just kind of go about like one day at a time, not really worry about (what) anybody else thinks. It’s just kind of my job, you know. That’s what I signed up for.”
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