The Green Bay Packers didn’t have many surprises during the NFL draft until they delivered a big one late in Day 3.
They drafted a kicker.
And the Packers not only traded up to get him, but they traded away two seventh-round picks to select Florida kicker Trey Smack with the final pick in the sixth round.
Smack, 22, is the first kicker off the board in 2026 and second kicker taken by the Packers in the last four years. Prior to 2023, the Packers hadn’t taken a kicker since Mason Crosby in 2007.
Packers fans and the organization will hope Smack turns out better than when they took Anders Carlson out of Auburn in the seventh round in 2023.
That experiment failed as Carlson lasted just one season, missing a critical kick in the team’s divisional-round playoff game at the San Francisco 49ers. That was the last kick he would make for the Packers, who cut him at the end of training camp prior to the 2024 season.
The Packers have Brandon McManus, 34, on the roster but he struggled mightily last season as he battled an injury, and like Carlson before him, missed important kicks in a playoff game loss in 2025.
His rough season came after he signed a three-year extension with the Packers.
But the selection of Smack has to signal that McManus’ days are numbered, or at the very least, there will be a serious competition this summer in training camp.
Here’s the reaction from Packers fans on social media on the team’s selection of Smack, with many not just loving the the pick but they’re also in love with his name:
Packers pick kicker Trey Smack in NFL draft, best reactions
Trey Smack highlights
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Instant reaction to Packers trading up to pick kicker Trey Smack in draft
Reporting by Christopher Kuhagen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
