GREEN BAY — Brandon McManus’ pep talk for Lucas Havrisik was to-the-point, checking in at an economical nine words.

“Based on how I would feel if someone wanted to stay something to me, it would be short,” the Green Bay Packers veteran kicker said of how he approached his conversation with Havrisik before the team’s Oct. 12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

“I just told him, ‘Have a great game.’ And, ‘Go make yourself some money.’”

Havrisik has done exactly that by being money in his two games in McManus’ place, going 10-for-10 against the Bengals and Arizona Cardinals, making all six of his extra points and four field goals, including a franchise-record 61-yarder just before halftime in last Sunday’s win at Arizona.

“It’s been nothing short of remarkable, in my opinion,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said Friday, as the Packers (4-1-1) prepared for Sunday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.

“Here’s a guy who hadn’t played within a team setting [since 2023]. Obviously, he’d been kicking and going on the tryout circuit, but to actually have to go in there in high-pressure situations and make big-time kicks and to come through? I think has been pretty special.”

It also could come to an end this weekend, with the Packers’ roster at the 53-player limit, McManus’ strained right (kicking) quadriceps improving and wide receiver Christian Watson on the cusp of being activated from the physically unable to perform list, which would necessitate a roster move to make room.

Which means, depending on how confident the medical and coaching staffs are in McManus’ leg being right, Havrisik could be the odd man out and his unexpected tour of duty in Titletown could be over as soon as Saturday.

“I mean, I guess just take every day one step at a time, do my job as best I can, and that’s really all you can do. Control what you can control,” Havrisik said after practice Friday. “I don’t really think about the uncertainty because there’s not too much certainty in general. You just come to work, do your job and whatever happens, happens.”

What has happened since McManus strained his quad in practice on Oct. 8 has been quite the whirlwind, although it’s only one leg of the wild journey he’s been on this season.

Before joining the Packers, Havrisik’s professional experience consisted of nine games as the Los Angeles Rams’ kicker in 2023, when he was 15 for 20 on field-goal attempts and 19 of 22 on extra points, and a 10-game stint for the UFL’s Dallas Renegades this spring, when he went 22 for 25 on field-goal attempts.

After that, he went home to Tucson, Arizona, where he’d been the University of Arizona’s kicker, without an NFL training-camp invite. He spent the summer working out on his own before moving to Cleveland and continuing his training there.

The first domino that fell for Havrisik was the New York Giants losing their veteran kicker, Graham Gano, to a groin injury in pregame warmups on Sept. 21.

Two days later, the Giants brought Havrisik and ex-Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo in for workouts on Sept. 23, after which the Giants signed Koo to their practice squad and went with former Gaelic footballer Jude McAtamney, who was already on their practice squad, as their fill-in kicker.

Undeterred, Havrisik then worked out for the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 7, after their kicker, Spencer Shrader, suffered a season-ending knee injury. But the Colts signed Michael Badgley instead.

Then came Havrisik’s workout for the Packers on Oct. 10, alongside veteran Greg Joseph, who’d been in camp with the Packers during the summer of 2024.

The Packers signed Havrisik, even with McManus insisting he could play through the quad injury because he’d done so before as the Denver Broncos kicker in 2022. But after watching McManus work out before the Bengals game, the team deactivated him for the game and went with Havrisik, who earned a game ball from LaFleur for his perfect day in the win over the Bengals.

Then, last Sunday, the Packers didn’t even bother having McManus test his leg before facing the Cardinals, and Havrisik rewarded their faith by again pitching a perfect game, topping it off with the 61-yarder — a franchise record that broke Mason Crosby’s previous record by three yards.

“Every kicker has to have insane confidence to go out there and kick a ball, so miss or make, confidence always stays the same,” Havrisik said of his hot streak. “You treat every kick the same. It doesn’t matter if you go 10-for-10 in a game or 1-for-10, you have to approach the next kick with the same confidence.

“Obviously, you hopefully don’t go 1-for-10, but it’s like golf. If you have a bad shot, you can’t go to the next one with the old feelings of the last one. You just have to hit the next one with the ultimate confidence.”

As well as he has kicked, however, the Packers made a three-year, $15.3 million commitment to McManus in the offseason, and he has a far more proven track record, having been in the league for more than a decade and won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos.

Thus, whenever he’s deemed healthy enough to kick, he will kick.

McManus kicked for the first time since the injury on Thursday, and he said afterward that he was “happy with where my leg was at and the pain with it,” but admitted, “I don’t know what the plan [for Sunday] is yet.”

LaFleur, meanwhile, listed McManus as questionable for the matchup with the Steelers. While LaFleur called it a “medical decision” on whether McManus kicks in Pittsburgh, LaFleur also said the kicker had “kicked well” in practice and that McManus had told him in their conversation on Friday was McManus telling his coach that he “feels great.”

The Packers could carry both McManus and Havrisik on the 53-man roster in the short term, perhaps because Havrisik now is a tradeable asset with the trade deadline approaching on Nov. 4.

They could also cut him, hope he clears waivers despite widespread kicking issues in the league, and bring him back on the practice squad as insurance if McManus’ leg flares up again.

All of which leaves Havrisik right back where he started — focusing on what he can control and letting the rest of the plan take care of itself.

“It all comes back to, nothing’s under my control besides me and what I can do. So you do your best to make your kicks and hopefully that gives you a good resume and gets you more opportunities,” Havrisik said.

“It’s really nice to learn from Brandon. I’m always thankful to learn from the guys who’ve been around for a long time at an elite level. So, I’ve picked his brain and he’s given me some pointers. Just being behind a guy like that, you learn a lot. So I’m grateful.”

​COPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.